Sydney airport generated a pre-tax profit of A$187 million ($148 million) for the first six months of 2017, up 25.4% from a year earlier on continued passenger growth.
Revenue rose 7.9% to A$714 million, although expenses also increased 9% to A$137.2 million, says the airport operator in a stock exchange statement. Net profit climbed 4.3% to A$167 million.
"We continue to deliver on our strategy of investing in significant improvement in customer experience and capacity to support our airline partners' growth," says managing director and chief executive Kerrie Mather.
"Our capital expenditure programme over the last 12 months has delivered nearly A$400 million in improved facilities for passengers and airlines, with over A$250 million more to to be delivered in the second half of 2017."
Passenger numbers grew 3.6% to 21 million.
In its investor presentation, Sydney airport notes that during the first half, 15 airlines announced "significant seat additions". This resulted in a net benefit of 930,000 seats, with both domestic and international traffic performing well.
Domestic passenger growth was 6% during the year. Southeast Asia and North Asia also saw strong growth. Load factors across domestic and international carriers serving the airport were 77.9%, 0.4 percentage points higher than in the first six months of 2016.
Sydney airport says international passengers account for 36% of total passengers, but that this proportion is likely to grow. It adds that "high value" international flights use 15% of the airport's slots, but drive 70% of revenues.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
