The Gold Coast appears to be well on its way to recovering from the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the city’s airport recording its busiest days in two years last week.
More than 21,000 passengers flowed through Coolangatta Airport on Friday, April 1, the busiest day of the year since March 2020.
That was followed by another bumper day on Sunday, when more than 19,000 travellers came through the terminal.
The spike in passengers is music to the ears of the city’s struggling tourism industry, with numbers only expected to increase even more heading into the peak Easter holiday period.
“It is fantastic to see numbers recovering at this pace after two challenging years for the airport and tourism sector we support,” Queensland Airports Limited CEO Chris Mills said.
In even better news for the sector, another record is expected to be set on Easter Monday, with 28,000 seats scheduled so far.
“Based on current loads that could mean 24,000 passengers in and out of Gold Coast Airport – which would be more than the current April record set on 15 April 2018 when 23,048 passengers travelled through the airport on their way home after the Commonwealth Games,” Mr Mills said.
“After a challenging two years, confidence in travel is returning, and the region is seeing the benefits of the leisure market recovery in particular”.
According to the latest data, Gold Coast to Melbourne was the second busiest route across the whole country in January, followed by Gold Coast to Sydney in fourth spot.
