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Adelaide Airport says a softer domestic market and the timing of Easter has offset international passenger growth during the first three months of calendar 2019.
The airports’s quarterly traffic report showed there were 2.081 million domestic and international passengers through its terminals in the three months to March 31 2019, down 0.1 per cent from 2.082 million in the prior corresponding period.
The number of domestic passengers fell 0.5 per cent to 1.814 million, while the number of international travellers increased 3.4 per cent to 267,000, the report published on May 9 showed.
“Overall growth was impacted by a softer domestic market,” Adelaide Airport said in the report.
Further, the airport said the timing of Easter, which came in April in 2019 compared with March in 2018, also played a part in quarterly traffic figures.
There was also a 1.1 per cent decline in domestic airline capacity, Adelaide Airport said, which included service reductions on routes to cities on Australia’s east coast such as Brisbane and Sydney.
“Traffic declines in domestic sectors were partially offset by growth on regional resource routes,” the report said.
In terms of international passengers, Adelaide Airport said growth was driven by greater Chinese New Year traffic and 2.3 per cent capacity growth on overseas routes.
The report noted Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific had both added an additional weekly flight, while China Southern grew its Adelaide-Guangzhou service to five flights a week, from three previously.
Finally, Singapore Airlines’ decision to switch its Adelaide service from the Airbus A330-300 to the A350-900 had also contributed to increase in capacity and “stimulated international traffic growth”.
Total passenger numbers for the nine months to March 31 2019 was up 1.1 per cent at 6.448 million, Adelaide Airport said.
Domestic passengers were up 0.7 per cent at 5.642 million, while international passengers grew 4.3 per cent to 806,000.
