A total of 3.06 million passengers passed through Sydney Airport in June 2023, representing an 89.9% recovery compared to pre-pandemic June 2019.
Passenger traffic at Sydney Airport’s T1 international terminal is continuing to grow with 1.16 million travellers passing through in June. The figure is almost half a million more than last June and represents an 88.8% recovery rate on June 2019.
Domestic passenger traffic increased 1.2% year-on-year to 1.90 million travellers in June. This represents an 90.6% recovery rate compared to June 2019.
The number of Chinese visitors continues to surge as the seven airlines flying between Sydney to mainland China have increased capacity.
For the third month in a row, Chinese nationals have ranked third in the top 10 nationalities travelling through Sydney Airport, with the June number representing a 69% recovery rate on pre-pandemic June 2019 passengers. This is a significant jump from May, when the recovery rate was 54% and a strong result considering at the start of the year Chinese visitor numbers were just 22% recovered.
“International passenger numbers are now closing in on pre-pandemic levels with strong demand on the mainland China route helping drive the recovery,” commented Geoff Culbert, chief executive, Sydney Airport. “To see the Chinese visitor market 69 per cent recovered within six months of the border reopening is a phenomenal result. As demand grows, the seven Chinese carriers operating out of Sydney are continuing to add capacity, with 51 return services now flying weekly.”
It will be interesting to see if this is a long-term trend. If incumbent airlines have decided to fly less between key domestic markets, then they should relinquish slots to domestic and international carriers who want to operate out of Sydney Airport and provide more choice for customers.
