Christchurch airport has best February

Christchurch International Airport has experienced the highest February on record for international passenger numbers, with nearly 142,000 passing through the gateway for the South Island's tourist industry.

Taken on a daily average, February 2010 had the highest daily international passenger movements on record.

International arrival totals have been helped by strong advertising campaigns in overseas markets, Australia in particular, with anecdotal evidence that bookings into the winter ski season remain positive.

CIAL general manager of marketing and business development, Gareth Owen, said the 141,922 passengers figure beat the previous record set in February 2008 by 1.5 per cent.

The best ever month for the airport was March 2008 when 555,258 passengers - both international and domestic - went through its doors.

In the midst of the global economic downturn, the South Island gateway saw 478,813 passengers through the airport in February last year, Owen said. However that month was helped by the introduction of new Emirates services.

"I don't think there has ever been as much money spent by all of New Zealand [tourism operators and regional and central governments] in the Australian market than what's happening at the moment," Owen said.

"That's to do with the Government's funds they've put forward."

In February 2010 there were, on average, 18,025 passengers a day, up from the previous daily record seen in March 2008 of 17,912 total passengers a day. It was the first time the airport had gone over 18,000 passengers a day, Owen said.

There were higher load factors on international planes into New Zealand, and airlines had constrained any increases in fares.

"I'm sure the airlines will tell you they're still hurting, especially on that trans-Tasman market, but we haven't seen a huge lift in the airfares." CIAL continued to target skiers from Australia for the winter months, with early bookings indicating a good season ahead.

Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism chief executive Christine Prince said Australia remained a key market with growth in visitors fuelled by that market.

"But I think another good thing has been the domestic [passenger] results. We've actually seen a good domestic recovery in [December], January and February."

The CIAL statistics showed that for the third month in a row, the numbers of both domestic and international passengers were up from the prior corresponding months of last year.

"For the month of February, domestic passenger numbers were up 5 per cent on last year, and international passenger numbers were up 6.4 per cent," Owen said.

Domestic numbers had been helped by competition between Pacific Blue, Jetstar and Air New Zealand. "They're still developing their market shares as to what parts of New Zealand they want to own."

The airport would continue to work towards the introduction of new airlines, and was still in positive talks with AirAsia X - a low-cost carrier.

- © Fairfax NZ News