31 January 2014

Auckland Airport has announced today that 14,424,473 passengers (excluding transits) used Auckland Airport in 2013, comprising 7,501,859 international passengers and 6,922,614 domestic passengers.

Simon Robertson, Auckland Airport’s chief financial officer, says, “2013 was a record year for the number of passengers using our airport and shows that our business strategy to grow travel markets and drive growth in travel, trade and tourism is working. It also shows the relevance and importance of the New Zealand Tourism Industry Association’s ‘Tourism 2025’ strategy to increase air services and deliver growth for the country going forward.”

“Not only was 2013 a record year for passengers, but in December 2013 Auckland Airport experienced the highest ever number of international passengers in one month; with 745,345 international passengers (excluding transits) using Auckland Airport.”

“To really top the year off, we also had our busiest ever week for international passenger movements. For the week ended 22 December 2013, there were 181,207 international passenger movements at Auckland Airport.”

“2013 saw strong growth in seat capacity across a number of routes. Auckland Airport was proud to play its part in encouraging international airlines to develop their Auckland services. We were also proud to play our part, along with Tourism New Zealand and other agencies, in using innovative marketing to promote New Zealand as a destination of choice. We look forward to this industry collaboration continuing for ‘NZ Inc’ into 2014 and beyond.”

“It was also great to see last year’s capacity growth come from a number of airlines, including Emirates, Jetstar, Qantas, Malaysia Airlines, China Southern Airlines, China Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and of course Air New Zealand.”

“We are also delighted that Queenstown Airport had its busiest calendar year on record in 2013, with 1,215,526 passenger movements, a 5.1% increase on the previous year. This was also largely due to the 30.9% increase in its international visitor arrivals.”

Mr Robertson says, “2014 is already delivering strong passenger numbers for Auckland Airport, with promising results for January. When combined with the strength of our emerging growth markets, such as Indonesia and India, this is fantastic news for our customers, our city and our country.”

Ends

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