AIA Monthly Traffic Update – February 2018

February 2018 Monthly traffic update 6.5% - International passengers (excluding transit passengers) increased by 6.5% to 872,408 in February 2018. The 53,000 increase compared with February 2017 was due to Chinese New Year travel falling in mid-February this year compared to January last year, and strong growth in the number of New Zealanders travelling overseas (up 7.2%) as a result of increased capacity on the Asia and Middle East routes (up 13.6%) and the Americas (up 9.2%). EK Bali - In February 2018, Emirates announced a new daily service from Dubai to Auckland via Bali, commencing June 2018. This service will complement the airline's existing non-stop daily service between Dubai and Auckland and provide the only year-round daily service between Auckland and Bali. Emirates and Qatar Airways, which operates a daily Doha-Auckland service, have increased New Zealand's connectivity to Europe, with European resident arrivals up 8.6% in the past 12 months. 19.1% - The later timing of Chinese New Year this year resulted in a 92.1% increase in Chinese visitor arrivals in February 2018, compared with February 2017. The combined January and February 2018 Chinese visitor arrivals were up 19.1% compared with the same months last year. Taiwanese visitor arrivals also experienced the same trend over the same period, up 22.0%. NZ Taipei - A new direct service to Taipei was announced by Air New Zealand in February 2018. Commencing in November 2018, the new service is expected to add an additional 95,000 seats to the route every year. China Airlines' daily Taipei-Auckland service operates via Brisbane and the introduction of a direct service is expected to increase the popularity of New Zealand as a holiday destination. End CA:00315926 For:AIA Type:GENERAL Time:2018-03-23 08:36:19