Victoria flies high with steady growth in aviation

Victoria flies high with steady growth in aviation

Tourism Victoria 18 June 2010

Victoria has continued to record strong growth in its domestic and international visitor numbers over the past year with a whopping 25 million passengers - 20 million domestic and five million international - passing through Melbourne Airport in 2009.

International visitors recorded the strongest growth to and from international markets, with numbers up 8 per cent on the previous year despite the 2008/09 global financial crisis, which resulted in the biggest falls in global passenger traffic since 1945.

The results do not include domestic passenger traffic through Avalon Airport, near Geelong, which account for more than a million passengers a year.
Over the past 18 months, Tourism Victoria has worked hard to attract four new international airlines to Melbourne, increasing the number of airlines flying into Melbourne to 25.

The new airlines include:

· AirAsia X, which will offer twice daily services from July between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur and connections from AirAsia destinations throughout Asia and London;

· Etihad Airways, which offers daily services between Melbourne-Abu Dhabi and connections from its Europe, Middle East and African network;

· V Australia, which offers twice weekly services between Melbourne and Los Angeles, a weekly service to Phuket and a twice weekly service between Melbourne and Johannesburg. These services will all increase in December 2010.

· Qatar Airways, which offers a daily service between Melbourne and Doha, connecting to the Qatar network in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Melbourne is the first Australian city to welcome Qatar Airways flights and is also home to the airline's new Asia Pacific Regional Headquarters.

Aviation numbers also received a significant boost thanks to an increase in flights offered by Qantas (which has added new A380 services flying to Los Angeles and between London, Singapore and Melbourne), Singapore Airlines (which has introduced a daily A380 service), Garuda Indonesia, Emirates, China Southern and Air China services. Between them, the increased flights have significantly improved Melbourne's links with the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China and Europe.

Melbourne Airport has achieved an 11.3 per cent growth in the frequency of its services and a 10.2 per cent growth in seat capacity in the summer of 2009/10 compared to the summer of 2008/09. This is the equivalent of an additional 29 services each week.

In December 2009, Melbourne Airport opened the first stage in a $330 million expansion project, which began in 2007. One of the largest infrastructure developments to take place in Victoria over the next five years, the expansion will create 25,000 square metres of new space including five aerobridges, two baggage carousels and 50 per cent more retail space by the time it is completed in 2012.

Melbourne Airport offers several operational advantages to international airlines including its curfew-free status, low passenger charges and easy-to-navigate, single terminal layout.

For media enquiries contact Amy Skelding, Lucy Pennington, Debbie Hindle askelding@bgb.co.uk / lpennington@bgb.co.uk / dhindle@bgb.co.uk 0207 902 2990

Corporate website: www.tourismvictoria.com.au
Consumer website: www.visitmelbourne.com/uk

 

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