Boom in air passengers

International traveller numbers up 9pc last month

AIRLINES are operating larger aircraft to and from Cairns to handle the growth in passenger numbers.

They have been moving up to wider bodied jets with more seats to bring extra travellers from overseas with international growth last month up 9.1 per cent.

Cairns Airport executive chairman Ross Rolfe said both international and domestic passenger numbers growth continued during September.

“Domestic passenger numbers climbed by 4.9 per cent to 370,970,” he said. Overall, growth of 6.6 per cent last month resulted in an extra 28,230 passengers through both terminals.

An airport report said nearly 96,000 seats were added over the past year, the equivalent of 550 additional Boeing 737 flights.

Mr Rolfe said Qantas added six more seats on their Boeing 737s and Virgin Australia moved from Embraer 190s to 737s.

“Hong Kong Airlines are operating their service using the wide bodied A330 aircraft while Air New Zealand have moved from a mix of 767s and Airbus 320s with approximately 250 and 168 seats respectively to the significantly larger B777s offering 304 seats.”

“The Air New Zealand upgauge, combined with the introduction of the Philippine Airlines Manila-Cairns-Auckland route, is helping to meet the ongoing demand to and from New Zealand as Australia’s largest overseas visitor source market.

“With the increased capacity and flight options we are seeing more passengers travelling direct to New Zealand from Cairns rather than via a domestic connection.”

Philippine Airlines Australia and New Zealand regional manager Ian Robinson said that the carrier was pleased with the growth on its ManilaCairns-Auckland return flights.

“We may replace the A320 aircraft (152 seat capacity) with the A321 aircraft (195 seat capacity) on selected dates during the coming peak festive season,” he said.

SilkAir Cairns manager Ravi L said passenger growth last month was 20 per cent up on last year.

He said the airline was “very pleased” with bookings on the fourth weekly flight starting next month, “... filled to above 80 per cent.”