Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) the operator of three Queensland Airports, have announced a record seven million passenger movements for the 2011/11 financial year.
Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) the operator of three Queensland Airports have announced a record seven million passenger movements for the 2010/11 financial year. QAL owns and operates Gold Coast, Townsville and Mount Isa aerodromes.
Gold Coast Airport recorded 5.4 million passengers, an increase of 5.3% from the previous 12 month period. This included 780,000 international passengers making Gold Coast Airport the fifth busiest international airport in Australia.
Townsville Airport, whose Air Traffic Control service is provided by the Department of Defence, recorded an 4.6% increase in passenger numbers for 1.67 million customers for the year. Mount Isa Airport which does not have a dedicated Air Traffic Control tower had 217,000 passengers, an outstanding increase of 19.5% on the previous year. Air Traffic Control service is provided remotely from Brisbane Enroute Center. The positive increases to both airports was attributed mainly to the strong resources sector in North West Queensland.
QAL advised that these numbers could have been greater if not for the effects of the natural disasters of the South East Queensland floods, Tropical Cyclone Yasi and the Chilean volcanic ash cloud. Natural disasters in Japan and New Zealand resulted in a lower increase then previous years to international numbers through Gold Coast Airport. The suspension of Tiger Airways operations also had an effect towards the later stages of the financial year.
Under draft proposals by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authortity passenger movements of 300,000 per year is one of the threshold criteria for the consideration of a dedicated Air Traffic Control Tower at an airport. Whilst Mount Isa is still well short of this number and growth in numbers may not continue at the same pace, the 300,000 passenger movement target is surely on the horizon.
For further information visit http://www.qldairports.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/28July11-QALJuneandFYYearpassengermovements-WEBVERSIONFINAL.pdf