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Domestic passenger growth at Wellington Airport remained subdued, listed infrastructure investor Infratil said yesterday.
Despite strong demand, domestic passenger volumes grew just 2 per cent in June on a 5 per cent fall in seats.
Year to date, domestic passengers were down 0.7 per cent on a 4.7 per cent fall in seats. Stronger growth was unlikely to be seen unless there was a significant change to the make-up of the domestic airline market, the company said in its monthly update.
International passenger numbers were up 10.6 per cent in June in the face of a 1 per cent fall in capacity.
At the end of the first quarter, year to date growth in international passengers was 8 per cent, with seat numbers down 3 per cent. In what is usually one of the slowest months of the year, this was "a sign of robust but constrained demand, with passengers growing strongly despite withdrawal of seats and significant increases in air fares", the company said.
Infratil also owns three European airports. Passenger numbers for June were also down at Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland. Lubeck Airport in Germany also saw little growth in passenger numbers in June. Infratil's Kent International Airport in England was up by 72 per cent - off a low base. Freight volumes were down due to a seasonal trend which sees flower imports drop off during the summer.
Infratil shares closed down 6c yesterday at $3.09.
