Australia: Sydney Airport profit soars, thanks to 1m global travellers

An extra 1m international passengers passing through Sydney Airport's gates last year has helped boost its annual pre-tax earnings by 8% to nearly $1.2b. Australia's largest airport also benefited from a 13% increase in retail revenue due to strong demand for shop space in its terminals, easily outpacing a 2% rise from its car parking and ground transport operations. Total revenue rose almost 9% to $1.48b last year. The airport's net profit increased 9% to almost $350m for the year. With continued growth in passengers forecast, the airport expects to spend up to $1.5b over the next four years on improvements to its terminals and airfield. That includes as much as $420m this year on projects such as resurfacing runways, expanding terminal gates and road works aimed at reducing congestion at peak periods. The airport's new CE, Geoff Culbert, said a 7% increase in international passengers to a total of 16m underpinned the full-year results. "This result reflects management initiatives, investment, positive macro tailwinds from increasing global tourism and travel, our proximity to Asia, larger and more fuel-efficient aircraft and the continued liberalisation of air rights," he said. International travellers are more than twice as valuable as domestic passengers because they spend longer hours in terminals, hand over more cash in duty-free shopping and pay more in airport charges.<br/>