Stats affirm terminal upgrade

July 07

Figures released today by the Queenstown Airport Corporation have affirmed the anticipated growth in passengers and flights into Queenstown, QAC chief executive officer Steve Sanderson said.

The release coincides with the completion of the new $30 million Queenstown Airport terminal upgrade, due to be officially opened in September.

Statistics showed a major leap in the number of international passengers travelling into Queenstown with passengers and international flights up by 22 percent for the year ending June 2007.

“Taking in into account a 22 percent increase in flights the average load factor on those flights also continued to be strong at 76 percent capacity, comparable to previous year’s capacity figures. The completion of the airport upgrade could not be more timely, with close to 700,000 passengers anticipated for the forthcoming year” Mr Sanderson said.

Direct flights from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne continued to be popular during winter months with the growing skier and snow board market. During the peak winter months over 16000 passengers a week had been moving through the airport.

“Those international figures will inevitably trend up again next year with the introduction of a new summer direct flight from Melbourne, while winter is our peak international period it is encouraging to see the demand through spring and summer,” he said.

Domestic passengers also grew by 3 percent last year, despite a 1 percent decrease in flights, mainly due to weather diversions.

“The load factor domestically also saw an increase, up 2.8 percentage points to 72.2 percent. And in general we expect to see a good future upward trend with the introduction of the Required Navigation Procedure (RNP) technology, which will minimise weather disruption,” Mr Sanderson said.

The RNP system, which allows aircraft fitted with the appropriate navigational technology to land and takeoff from Queenstown Airport in new weather minima’s that would normally warrant diversion.

For further information please contact Steve Sanderson 03 450 9031