DATA SPOTLIGHT: Christchurch International Airport

8 July, 2020

This year The Blue Swan Daily will feature some of the leading airlines, airports and country markets for air travel. Here, using the extensive profile insights available to CAPA - Centre for Aviation members, we deliver a data snapshot on Christchurch International Airport, which saw some rare international visitors during the early stage of the Covid-19 lockdown and is now seeing positive signs of recovery, in domestic skies at least.

A couple of Lufthansa Boeing 747s sat on the apron is a rare sight at any airport outside of Germany. But that was the case at Christchurch International Airport during the early stages of New Zealand's Covid-19 lockdown as the aircraft repatriated Germany citizens out of the country.

While such a site may not be seen again, the main gateway to South Island is already seeing an upturn in domestic operations as New Zealand becomes one of the leaders in the post Covid-19 recovery and widely held among the nations to have best responded and controlled the spread of the pandemic. The next step will be to rebuild international connectivity as other nations match its own actions.

Less than two months after unrestricted domestic air travel was permitted in New Zealand under Alert Level Two, strong demand through the school holiday period saw 10,700 passengers pass through Christchurch Airport on the first day of this week. Remarkably, that represents a recovery within 10% of volumes recorded on the same day last year.

The airport is operating at "about 45% of normal" according to its CEO Malcolm Johns and will be "back to 55%" by Aug-2020. "That's a lot quicker than we anticipated, to be honest," he acknowledges, but warns that a cautious outlook remains. "There's no question this is a risky time for aviation and tourism," he says. "The next six to eight months" of negotiations between airlines and airports "are going to be incredibly influential about how the following decade of aviation in this part of the world plays out," according to the executive.

NETWORK MAP (as at 06-Jul-2020)

GLOBAL RANKING (as at 06-Jul-2020)

DESTINATIONS (as at 06-Jul-2020)

ANNUAL CAPACITY (2012-2020*)(NOTE:The values for this year are at least partly predictive up to 6 months and may be subject to change)

WEEKLY DOMESTIC CAPACITY (2017 - 2020*)NOTE:*the values for this year are at least partly predictive up to six months and may be subject to change.

WEEKLY INTERNATIONAL CAPACITY (2017-2020*)NOTE:*the values for this year are at least partly predictive up to six months and may be subject to change.