The Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) share price will be one to watch on Thursday after the release of its traffic figures for the month of May.
How has the airport been performing?
After a period of weakness, the airport operator reported a rise in both domestic and international passengers in May.
According to the release, the total number of passengers that travelled through Sydney Airport last month grew by 2.4% compared to the prior corresponding period to just over 3.5 million.
This was driven largely by a strong increase in international passenger numbers during the month. A total of 1.293 million international passengers passed through its gates in May, up 6.3% on the prior corresponding period.
Domestic passenger numbers increased 0.3% on the same period last year to 2.217 million.
However, despite this positive month, total passenger numbers are still down slightly calendar year to date. A total of 18.2 million passengers have travelled through Sydney Airport so far in 2019, down 0.1% on the prior corresponding period.
This is the result of a reasonable decline in domestic traffic offsetting solid growth in international traffic.
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said: "The strong International passenger growth in May was driven by increased demand and subsequent load factor increases across most destinations. We continue to have a diverse nationality mix coming through Sydney Airport. In May, we saw double-digit growth from Malaysia, the USA, Greater China and Japan."
Looking ahead, the airport operator has a couple of new services due to commence that could provide a boost to its traffic numbers later this year.
Malindo Air will start a daily service from Kuala Lumpur via Denpasar in mid-August, operating a 162 seat B737-800.
And the Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) seasonal Sapporo service will commence in mid-December with a 251 seat A330-200 aircraft operating three times per week through to late March.
