MAp - May 2005 traffic figures

Macquarie Airports (MAp) today released its monthly report on traffic performance at its airports for May 2005.

* preliminary estimate

Traffic performance for Copenhagen Airports is set out in attachments 1 to 4 of this release.

Macquarie Airport’s Chief Executive Officer Kerrie Mather said, “All airports recorded positive traffic growth in May 2005 with European assets, now representing more than half of MAp’s portfolio by value, experiencing strong improvements on the previous corresponding period (pcp).

“Sydney Airport recorded traffic growth of 4.3% on pcp. International traffic grew by 2.5% with growth on pcp muted by the effect of unusually strong traffic – particularly on the trans-Tasman route - in May 2004,” Ms Mather said.

“Rome traffic grew 13.2% in May, driven primarily by increased demand on Asian and trans-Atlantic routes, as well as strong domestic growth following the launch of Ryanair’s services at Ciampino.

“Growth at Brussels is coming from both scheduled and charter services, as well as new cargo opportunities. Jet Airways announced in early June that it will commence scheduled flights from Mumbai, India to Newark (New York) via Brussels, marking the first new scheduled long-haul service since 2001.

“Birmingham Airport has returned to positive traffic growth for the first time in 12 months, with a record breaking month in May reflecting the launch of new services by several airlines, increased frequencies and new routes. At Bristol Airport, growth of over 12% pcp can be primarily attributed to new international routes. Of particular importance was Continental launching a daily service between Bristol and Newark,” Ms Mather said.

Sydney Airport

*domestic including regional passengers are estimated.
Any adjustments to preliminary statistics will be included in the year to date results in future months.

Total traffic at Sydney Airport for May 2005 is estimated to have increased by 4.3% over the pcp and 7.4% for the financial year to May 2005. International passengers for May grew 2.5% on the pcp, impacted by strong growth in May 2004 as a result of unusually strong traffic, particularly on the trans-Tasman route.

In key international markets for May, Australian outbound traffic was up 5% (April +5%). New Zealand travellers were down 6% on the pcp (April -7%), impacted by significant growth in May 2004 related to capacity increase and airline promotion on the trans-Tasman routes. US travellers were up 2% on the pcp (April +5%), and Canada had 6% growth on the pcp (April +18%).
In Asian markets for May, Korea was up 9% on the pcp (April +35%). China was up 0.2% on the pcp (April +8%) and Japan declined 22% on the pcp (April -2%). Both markets were heavily influenced by the strong bounce-back in May last year related primarily to SARS the prior year.

Domestic passenger traffic continued to grow at over 5%.

Brussels

Extra-EU scheduled traffic was 10.2% higher than pcp largely driven by higher loads on existing flights.

Charter traffic (including Military and GA passengers) increased by 7.5% on the pcp driven by a 20.4% increase in Extra-EU charter traffic as a result of additional capacity provided by the tour operators.

Since the beginning of May, SN Brussels Airlines has operated a daily service to Paris Charles de Gaulle to connect with their African flights. In addition, Virgin Express opened two new routes to Murcia and Catania.

As from the beginning of June, SN Brussels Airlines has added a service to Glasgow and Virgin Express has added Toulon and Bergamo to its list of destinations. Club Airways is adding a three weekly service to Genoa and on to Palermo from June 24.

The Indian carrier Jet Airways plans to commence scheduled flight operations from Mumbai, India to Newark (New York), via Brussels. The new service will be operated six times a week using a 269 seat Airbus 340 aircraft. Jet Airways hopes to increase this frequency to a daily flight later this year. The start date for the service will be confirmed once all necessary approvals have been received.

Aeroporti di Roma (AdR)

In May 2005, Rome Airport’s traffic was 13.2% above the pcp. There was a 7.0% increase at Fiumicino and an 87.5 % increase at Ciampino. Ciampino continues to be one of Europe’s fastest growing airports due to the rapid rise of low-cost domestic and intra-EU services at the airport.

Domestic traffic was 3.6% above the pcp, an improved performance over recent months. Domestic traffic at Ciampino has increased significantly since the beginning of April when Ryanair expanded its Rome base to five aircraft with the launch of domestic flights in Italy from Rome to Alghero (Sardinia), Venice and Verona.

Intra-EU traffic increased by 18.2% on the pcp. Growth continues to be driven by the expansion of low-fare traffic at both Ciampino and Fiumicino.

Extra-EU traffic increased by 24.3% on the pcp, due to buoyant demand for flights to Asia and across the Atlantic.

Apart from the new domestic services noted above, Ryanair also added a daily service to Dublin. In addition, easyJet has announced a daily service to Basle from June, to Belfast from 2 July and a double daily service to Berlin from 21 September.

Birmingham International Airport

Birmingham Airport handled 852,737 passengers in May, a rise of 7.2% on pcp. This increase has been driven by the launch of several new airlines, increased frequencies and new routes.

In May 2005 domestic traffic was 16.9% higher than pcp. This improvement in performance reflects the positive impact of the new bmibaby base in January, with the introduction of bmibaby services to Belfast and Edinburgh.

International scheduled passengers increased by 19.2% on the pcp with growth achieved on transatlantic routes which rose 51.7% on pcp and services to the Indian sub-continent which grew by 20.9%. Other scheduled routes which saw significant rises in traffic over pcp were, Prague (+139.1%), Vienna (+99.6%), Larnaca (+86.9%), Lyon (+84.1%), Milan (+53.5%), Amsterdam (+26.9%), Zurich (+9.8%), Hanover (+9.2%) and Helsinki (+7.6%).

Although the number of charter passengers fell by 10.9% overall during May, growth was achieved on several routes including Mexico (+189.6%), Bulgaria (164.2%), Turkey (+30.3%), Malta (+29.2%), Channel Islands (+15.4%), Croatia (+15.1%) and Cyprus (+14.2%).

From 1 June 2005 Emirates introduced a second daily departure to Dubai to serve the Middle East with improved connection times to Asia and Australia.

Bristol International Airport

Domestic traffic for May increased by 10.8% on the pcp due to improved load factors and the introduction of twice-daily flights from Bristol to both Newquay and Leeds Bradford airports from 11 May.

International scheduled flights increased by 23.1% on the pcp. The primary driver of the growth in international traffic was the introduction of eight new routes to Budapest, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Geneva, Newark, Valencia and Zurich. These services are operated by British Airways, Continental Airlines and easyJet.

Charter traffic was 1.0% higher than the pcp, a performance considerably ahead of the UK market as a whole.

easyJet has announced that it will increase the fleet based at Bristol International Airport to eight, operating to a total of 23 destinations, with 66 daily flights. easyJet will use the new aircraft based at Bristol to service the new destinations of Inverness, Mahon (a new summer seasonal service), Murcia and Pisa from July.

Statements by Copenhagen Airports concerning May traffic are attached. MAp holds an 11.3% interest in CPH.

Traffic Data

All data is for arriving and departing passengers (000s)
All data is taken from management accounts, is provisional and subject to revision
Bristol data is now shown for calendar month in the above table
*MAT refers to Moving Annual Total
**Sydney data contains estimates with adjustments made to preliminary data in later months

Investor enquiries
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Tel: (612) 8232 8845
Email: stuart.green@macquarie.com

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Public Affairs Manager
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Email: julie.sheather@macquarie.com