Sydney airport flight volumes hit by coronavirus

Flights into Australia's busiest airport Sydney this month are expected to be affected by the coronavirus outbreak after January volumes held relatively steady.

Total passenger volumes through Sydney airport eased by 0.6pc to 3.93mn in January from 3.96mn a year earlier, said airport operator Sydney Airports.

"We expect traffic to be more significantly impacted in February as a consequence of the coronavirus," said Sydney Airports chief executive Geoff Culbert.

There were 1.7mn international passengers through Sydney's airport in January, down by 0.7pc on the previous year. Domestic passengers totalled 2.3mn, down by 0.6pc, driven in part by higher than normal cancellations, Sydney Airports said.

The falling of the lunar new year holiday in late January led to an increased number of Chinese nationals travelling towards the end of the month, Sydney Airports said, up by 7.6pc on a year earlier. Japanese travellers also increased by 4.9pc over the same period, while passengers from other key countries in Asia all recorded a fall.

Australian airline Qantas is already cutting flights to China and other Asian destinations, as well as domestic routes, in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. It forecasts its impact will cut its fuel costs in the second half of the 2019-20 fiscal year to 30 June.

Australia saw a drop in jet fuel consumption for international flights leaving the country in 2019 that weighed on overall sales.

By Kevin Morrison