Retail revenue at New Zealand’s main gateway fell -2% year-on-year in H1 FY26, with income per passenger down -4%, while passenger spend rate rose +2% (+5% excluding FX).
The policy allows ordinary passport holders from these countries to enter China without a visa for up to 30 days for business, tourism, family visits, exchanges or transit.
The -15.72% drop in concession revenues comes despite a rise in passenger traffic in the quarter ending 31 December, reflecting issues surrounding the contribution of duty free at Thai airports.
December was a peak month for the airport, with 8.7 million passengers, up +6.1% year-on-year, and closing a record fourth quarter of 25.1 million passengers, up +5.9% from the same period in 2024.
The record-breaking increase reflects sustained growth in recent years, driven by higher travel demand during the summer season and expanding regional and domestic connectivity across the country.
According to the country’s General Authority of Civil Aviation, the record numbers were driven by airport expansion, stronger international connectivity and sustained demand linked to tourism growth and global events.
Based on billions of Google searches and more than 90,000 tourism data points, ‘The Power of Travel 2050’ reveals the next phase of growth will not only expand and accelerate but also become more geographically complex than ever.
The region’s carriers transported a combined 390.5 million international passengers during the year, a +9.4% increase against 2024.
Mabrian’s latest study analysed international air capacity and flight searches to the top 50 airports in each world region, focusing only on international demand for January to June.
2025 passenger traffic surpassed the previous record set in 2019, amid rising travel demand on routes to China and Japan.
International tourist arrivals hit an estimated 1.52 billion in 2025, underscoring the resilience of global travel demand, according to the year’s first UN Tourism World Tourism Barometer.
The airport achieved a trifecta of milestones, recording its highest annual traffic with 25 million passengers in 2025, its busiest month in December with 2.3 million travellers, and setting a new single-day peak on 20 December with 26,111 passengers.
