Passenger numbers were up across the board at Auckland International Airport in January but a rise in the dollar could soften the inbound market, says chief financial officer Robert Sinclair.
"[It'll] just be really interesting to see where it goes now with [yesterday's] announcement with respect to theincrease in interest rates and so forth," Sinclair said.
"Whether [the] New Zealand dollar stays at where it is or whether we actually see the market starting to pre-empt a bit of softening in the New Zealand economy and seeing the New Zealand dollar come off a little bit."
International arrivals were up 1.3 per cent to 322,129, with total international passenger volume up 2.3 per cent at 625,158 and domestic passengers up 2.2 per cent at 391,151 people.
The international trend continued to show early signs of resurgence, Sinclair said.
"January is now our fifth month in a row of positive growth in the 2 to 3 per cent range," he said.
For the financial year ending June 30, total international passenger numbers to date were up 1 per cent on the same period last year.
Last month the airport reported a slight increase in half-year net profit, with the full year likely to be flat on last year's $103.2 million.
New Zealand passengers led the way in January with 147,428 arrivals, followed by 41,463 from Australia and 34,677 people from the UK.
