Melbourne airport sees a significant uptick in October passengers
Melbourne Tullamarine airport handled nearly 610,100 international passengers travellers in October versus just 12,400 passengers in October 2021 as international airlines add more capacity amid strong demand from travellers.
The airport handled 2.57 million passengers in total during the month, the highest monthly figure since the start of the pandemic and up from the over 50,000 passengers in October 2021, it says in a 16 November release. Domestic passengers also grew significantly to 1.96 million from just 37,600 passengers.
The total passenger figure represents 78% of 3.3 million passengers recorded in October 2019, with international travellers at 65% of pre-pandemic levels and domestic travel at 83%.
For the four months to October, the airport handled 9.88 million passengers, up over 15 times year on year. Domestic passenger numbers grew by 1,282% year on year to 7.56 million while international figures grew 2,603% to 2.32 million.
Melbourne airport chief executive Lorie Argus states: "We now have thousands more seats and extra cargo capacity after Qatar Airways added a second daily flight from Melbourne to Doha, and United Airlines resumed flights to Los Angeles while increasing its San Francisco service to daily."