Airports traffic booms as $A soars, visitors jump

Melbourne and Sydney airports both recorded bumper months in May as locals travelled overseas and the number of visitors from Asia grew strongly.
In figures released today, Melbourne airport reported an 18.5 per cent increase on May last year in the number of international passengers to 490,306, while Sydney Airport posted a 7.8 per cent gain on the same month last year to 853,000.
Further, Melbourne reported a 21.2 per cent jump in the number of Australians passing through the airport, suggesting that the appetite for travel was strong despite jitters over interest rates and cost of living pressures.

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As the Australian dollar lingered well above parity with the greenback, local holidaymakers continued to pack their bags for destinations like Indonesia and the United States in ever-greater numbers.
Between March 2009 and March 2010, when the Aussie dollar rose from 71 US cents to 92 US cents, the numbers of Australian travellers visiting the US jumped by 40.3 per cent, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
That spectacular growth moderated between March 2010 and March 2011, but still grew by 13.5 per cent as the local currency rose a further 11 cents to $US1.03.
The trend did not hold for trips to New Zealand in March, which compared to a year earlier, fell 1.2 per cent thanks in part to the series of earthquakes which hit Christchurch from late 2010.
Yet the record-breaking recent performance of the Aussie dollar had not discouraged foreign visitors from booking holidays in Australia. Indeed, Melbourne and Sydney airports both enjoyed strong inbound traffic from Asia.
According to Melbourne Airport, the number of visitors from China during May rose by 26.9 per cent on a year ago, but it was not the biggest improver. Visitors from Taiwan rose by 61 per cent, Indonesia 41 per cent, Japan 28 per cent and Malaysia by 25 per cent.
"Traditional markets also continued to grow with New Zealand increasing by 15.8 per cent, the UK by 8.3 per cent and the US by 6.3 per cent," said Melbourne Airport CEO Steve Woodruff.
Sydney Airport's majority owner MAp Group also said that international traffic increased as a result of continued growth in the number of Australians travelling abroad, plus more travellers to Australia from Asia.
MAp said the number of domestic passengers during May totalled 1.96 million, up 3 per cent on the last May.
Passenger traffic at MAp's other airports in Europe also rose in May, the company said.
thomas.hunter@theage.com.au