Asia Budget Carriers Boost Sydney Airport Traffic

06/19/2012| 08:39pm US/Eastern

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   By Ross Kelly 
 

SYDNEY--Sydney Airport (>> Sydney Airport Holdings Ltd) said Wednesday that passenger numbers edged higher last month, as new budget Asian carriers boosted travel to emerging markets.

Passenger numbers for May at Australia's largest airport rose 0.3% to 2.83 million, with international passengers up 2% and domestic down 0.6%.

The airport said the biggest growth market was Malaysia, where inbound travel to Sydney jumped 43% and outbound travel grew by 30%. The biggest contributor to that growth was AirAsia X's daily low-fare service to Kuala Lumpur, which has reported "very healthy" load factors on inbound and outbound legs, Sydney Airport's Chief Executive Kerrie Mather said in a statement.

The start of Singapore Airlines Ltd.'s budget carrier, Scoot, was also supporting passenger growth with a daily 400-seat service to Singapore, Ms. Mather said.

-By Ross Kelly, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4692; Ross.Kelly@dowjones.com

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