Key points

• International passenger numbers grow 10 per cent to 943,000.
• Financial-year-to-date passenger volumes reach almost 16 million people.
• Extreme weather impacts capacity on Melbourne-Sydney route.

The number of international travellers flying through Melbourne Airport in November grew almost 10 per cent compared to November 2017. More than 85,000 additional international passengers passed through the door, lifting total international numbers to almost 950,000 for the month.

The strong growth in international passenger numbers helped offset a weakened domestic market during the month.

Melbourne Airport recorded domestic growth of just 0.05 per cent for the month, including domestic on carriage passengers (domestic passengers flying via an international service).

The disappointing domestic result was due to a combination of the ongoing exercise of ‘capacity discipline’, and three extreme weather events impacting the Melbourne-Sydney route.

“In the last month we’ve seen our weakest domestic result since 2014,” said Lyell Strambi, Chief Executive, Melbourne Airport.

“With the comparatively weaker Aussie dollar, this should be a boom time for the domestic tourism industry, with organisations right across the sector working together to encourage more Australians to explore the wonders of our country.”

Passenger figures for November 2018:

*Monthly percentage growth compared to November 2017

Passenger figures for FY to November 2018

*Note figures are rounded