Traffic data from Australia’s biggest airport show international passenger numbers slumped 16.8 percent in February and suggest it will be worse in March.
The publicly-listed Sydney Airport said Tuesday it had decided to release its results early to provide the market with as much clarity as possible as total February traffic fell 9.3 percent to 3.1 million passengers. Domestic traffic was down 4.5 percent to 2 million passengers.
But provisional data for the first nine days of March indicated the situation could be worsening with a 25 percent decrease in international traffic and 6 percent fall in domestic passenger numbers.
While the airport cautioned these numbers could change, they show the impact the coronavirus is having on the travel industry.
The release of the data also came as Qantas announced it would reduce international capacity by 25 percent and ground eight of its Airbus A380 superjumbos as a result of the coronavirus.
READ: Qantas slashes international capacity, grounds A380s.
“Like our airline partners, we are also experiencing the financial impacts of coronavirus,” said Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culvert.
“There is a direct link between passenger arrivals and departures and our aeronautical revenues, so we share the pain of every flight cancellation,’’ Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert said.
“ Everyone in the aviation and tourism industry is hurting and we are in discussions with all of our partners about the best way to support each other during this period.”
A breakdown of the February figures showed China (Including Hong Kong) led the way with a 72.4 percent fall in passengers followed by South Korea, which was down 34 percent. Japan was down 8.1 percent.
There were drops of 5.6 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, in passenger numbers from the UK and the US, while Canadian numbers were down 9.2 percent.
Culbert said the primary focus remained the health and safety of everyone at the airport and to keep it “open and operating”.
“We have detailed continuity plans that give us confidence that we can work through the challenges posed by any potential escalation of the Coronavirus outbreak, and our balance sheet and liquidity positions remain strong,’’ he said.
“Our recent bond issue fully refreshes our $1.4 billion of available bank facilities”
The airport boss said Sydhey would continue to invest in projects that delivered capacity growth over the long term and it was heeding a call by the Australian Prime Minister to keep investing and keep people in jobs.
“We will also continue our disciplined approach to managing operating costs,’’ he said. “The changes we made last year will help us to effectively manage through the current environment.”
The Airports Council International has forecast that passenger traffic at Asia-pacific airports will be down by 24 percent in the first quarter of 2020 as revenue is cut by $US3 billion.
