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Sydney Airport’s domestic passenger traffic in May inched up by 25 per cent on the previous month, Australian Aviation can reveal.
However, the 62,000 travellers it welcomed still represents a 97.2 per cent drop from the same month in 2019.
The airport said in a statement that it expects the downturn to persist “until government travel restrictions are eased”.
Meanwhile, the numbers of international passengers dropped from 43,000 in April to just 29,000 in May as government-backed repatriation flights slowly dried up.
The figures are likely to be the lowest in recent memory and the new total itself represents a 97.4 per cent drop on the same period last year.
To combat the falling numbers, the airport acquired $850 million of new two- and three-year bank debt facilities in April. The airport then said in a statement, “Given the strength of our balance sheet and liquidity position, at this time we do not see the need to raise equity.”
In addition, its directors reduced their fees by 20 per cent for the three months commencing 1 April.
Australian Aviation has earlier reported that visitor arrivals in Australia as a whole crashed 60 per cent year-on-year in March, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The highest drop on record came in addition to a 29 per cent slump in residents returning from short trips, defined as those lasting less than a year.
The figures show the effects of Australia’s multiple travel bans, which began with barring Chinese visitors and ended with all non-residents being blocked from entering the country.
Those that now arrive must complete two weeks of isolation in a hotel room.
