SYDNEY, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Sydney Airport on Tuesday released a monthly report on its traffic performance, saying that a total of 3,120,000 passengers passed through the airport in January, which marked a 78.8 percent recovery compared to the pre-COVID-19 level.
According to the report, domestic passenger traffic totaled 1,887,000, representing an 82.4 percent recovery compared to January 2019, while 1,233,000 international travelers passed through the airport, registering a 73.9 percent recovery.
The airport also revealed the top 10 nationalities of passengers taking flights. In January, Australians took the top spot, followed by New Zealanders and United States passengers. Chinese nationals were the seventh largest group among the total passengers.
"It has been a challenging year for Sydney Airport since Australia reopened its border, but we are now seeing a steady stream of international travelers eager to explore the world again," said Geoff Culbert, the airport's chief executive officer.
Culbert noted that in January, the number of U.S. and British travelers came to only three-quarters of their pre-COVID levels, while the number of passengers from previously popular European countries like Germany and France was even lower.
"With the border to China reopening earlier this year, we anticipate the number of Chinese travelers to increase significantly throughout 2023, especially with more capacity returning to key routes," said the chief executive.
