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The arrival of Pacific Blue on the domestic market helped boost passenger numbers through Wellington Airport by nearly 30 per cent in January.
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The Australian-owned budget airline began flying between the main centres using two Boeing 737-800s in November with a host of promotional fares.
"The benefits of competition in the domestic market cannot be demonstrated more clearly... with passenger growth up 29.7 per cent on January 2007," airport majority owner Infratil says in its monthly update.
There was also a significant response by Air New Zealand and Qantas.
Seat capacity was up 28.8 per cent in January from a year earlier, and aircraft loads were marginally up.
For the year to date domestic passengers were 6.1 per cent up.
However, capacity on the Tasman routes continued to be constrained.
International passenger numbers were 1.4 per cent higher and planes were flying more than 80 per cent full.
The shortage of seats meant many passengers were forced to travel to Australia via Auckland or Christchurch, or not at all.
At Infratil's European airports, Glasgow Prestwick handled 145,550 passengers in January, up slightly on January 2007.
Freight passing through the airport was down 7 per cent to 1804 tonnes, partly because of bad weather which resulted in three aircraft diverting to other airports.
Kent International Airport, near London, handled 3729 tonnes of freight in January, up 32 per cent.
Passenger numbers at Lubeck Airport in Germany fell 22 per cent on January last year to 29,477, and 14 per cent for the year to date because of a cut of 24 in overall capacity provided by airlines.
* Australia and the United States reached an ‘‘open skies'' aviation agreement yesterday that will remove restrictions on the number of flights airlines from each country can make between them.
The pact could lead to more flights on the lucrative trans-Pacific route, but only for Australian and American airlines.
Singapore Airlines, a strong rival of Australian national carrier Qantas, has long sought access to the route.
Virgin Blue plans to launch services to the United States late this year as V Australia.
Restrictions on capacity and pricing would also be removed, and joint marketing - including codesharing - would be allowed.
By ROELAND van den BERGH - Source | The Dominion Post | New Zealand
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