Sydney Airport is on its way to recovery with about 3,010,000 passengers crossing the airport in May 2023, with 85.7% recovery compared to pre-pandemic May 2019.
Sydney Airport’s T1 international terminal saw 1,076,000 passengers pass through in May, which is an 83.1% recovery rate compared to May 2019. This represents the strongest post-Covid international passenger traffic performance since the border reopened.
Domestic passenger traffic increased 5.5% year-on-year, to 1,934,000 travellers in May. This represents an 87.3% recovery rate compared to May 2019.
The Chinese recovery continues to be strong, with the number of Chinese passengers having recovered to 54% in May, from a base of only 22% at the start of the year.
Passenger numbers will continue to rise as capacity is added to this important market, with direct flights from Shenzhen recommencing in June and services from Nanjing returning in July. This will bring the total number of mainland Chinese cities that Sydney Airport services directly to nine.
Geoff Culbert, Chief Executive, Sydney Airport said: “The airport has just posted its strongest international traffic numbers since borders closed in March 2020. In the first five months of this year, we’ve had 5.5 million international passengers through Sydney Airport, which is almost three times the number we saw in the same period in 2022. The recovery of the China market continues to impress, with passenger numbers on the mainland route increasing seven-fold since the start of the year.”
