Australias Gold Coast Airport is enjoying rapid traffic growth
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Australias Gold Coast Airport is enjoying rapid traffic growth, driven by new and expanded international services.
The airport recently started construction on a new terminal which will provide an enhanced level and service, and more wide body parking spots, to support anticipated further international growth.
Gold Coast traffic was up 8% to 6.3 million passengers in the year ending 30-Jun-2016, with international traffic up 18% to 1.05 million. Gold Coast had the fastest international growth in Financial-Year-(FY) 2016 among Australia’s six main international airports.
AirAsia X and Hong Kong Airlines have accounted for most of the recent growth. AirAsia X has added capacity on Kuala Lumpur-Gold Coast while launching Gold Coast-Auckland. Hong Kong Airlines launched services to Gold Coast in early 2016 and is already planning to increase capacity.
Gold Coast is Australia’s sixth largest airport behind Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. In the fiscal year ending 30-Jun-2016 (FY2016) Gold Coast's total passenger traffic was up 7.5% to a record 6.3 million.
Gold Coast reported an 18% increase in international passenger movements to 1.05 million, and 5.6% domestic growth to 5.26 million, in the process overtaking Adelaide as sixth largest. Both growth figures were higher than those of any of Australia’s other top six airports.
In Sep-2016 Hong Kong Airlines unveiled plans for a further increase in capacity to the Gold Coast, with five weekly year-round flights from Dec-2016 and a daily service during the Chinese New Year period in early 2017. At least for now, Hong Kong Airlines will continue to tag Gold Coast with Cairns on a circular routing.
The additional capacity from Hong Kong Airlines is significant as it enables Gold Coast to continue growing traffic from China, which is the fastest growing source market for the region’s tourism sector. Hong Kong Airlines relies heavily on connections to mainland China, although most of its Australia traffic consists of individual consumers rather than group bookings.
Jetstar continues to operate six international routes from Gold Coast, Auckland, Christchurch, Nadi, Queenstown, Tokyo and Wellington. However only Auckland is daily, and only Tokyo is served with widebody aircraft.
Jetstar is no longer the international market leader at Gold Coast. AirAsia X now has that distinction, accounting for approximately 40% of international seat capacity compared with 31% for Jetstar.
Gold Coast IS poised for further international growth with AirAsia X evaluating further capacity increases at the Gold Coast, including the addition of a second New Zealand route.
Gold Coast was AirAsia X’s very first route when it commenced operations in late 2007. AirAsia X has established a strong brand in the Gold Coast market that it is now leveraging with the new services to Auckland. Prior to the launch of Auckland, AirAsia X’s capacity at Gold Cast was relatively stable for over eight years.
Gold Coast is confident that international traffic will continue to rise rapidly and is now committed to opening a new terminal in 2018. Construction on the major upgrade project began in mid-2016.
The new building will have three stories and provide four aerobridges, as well as at least three additional wide body parking stands. More aerobridges and wide body stands are planned as part of later phases.
