Holiday-makers can’t seem to get enough of the glitter strip, with more than half a million people travelling through the Gold Coast airport this month.
The figure is the highest number in a single month since the pre-pandemic days of January 2020, and it’s thanks largely to consecutive long weekends.
Passenger numbers for this month will come close to the airport’s busiest April on record, which saw 570,104 people through the terminal for the Commonwealth Games in April 2018.
Queensland Airports Limited CEO Chris Mills says the numbers are very promising for the city.
“Travel confidence is back again,” he says.
“This is fantastic news for tourism operators on the Gold Coast and in Northern New South Wales.”
As visitors continue to flock to the city, the momentum is set to carry on into May with over 65-70 flights a day scheduled for this long weekend.
Mr Mills says the contrast from this time two years ago is incredible to see.
“In April 2020 we saw only 1500 passengers go through the airport for the whole month,” he says.
“Fast forward two years to now we’ve already seen over half a million passengers coming through.”
It follows an equally bumper February, with the Gold Coast coming in as the fourth busiest airport in Australia.
Gold Coast Airport is usually the country’s sixth busiest airport; however, it swooped into fourth place just behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and in front of Adelaide and Perth.
