Airports Company South Africa, Cape Town International Airport, saw a significant increase in passenger movement at the airport compared to last year. For the calendar year of 2015 the overall passenger numbers have grown by 8.9% from 8.6 million in 2014 to approximately 9.4 million for 2015. Domestic passenger numbers grew by 8.9% while a noteworthy growth was seen in the regional numbers with a 12.4% growth and International 8.8% respectively compared to last year.

The month of December also saw significant growth, with just over 736 000 arriving and departing passengers moving through the airport. This signals a 13.3% increase compared to December 2014. Domestic arriving passengers grew by 12% compared to the month of November while International arriving passengers grew by 5% and regional by 31% for that period. "December has been our busiest month ever. Closing off the year on 9.4 million passengers is an important milestone for the airport and the region", said Deidre Davids, Cape Town International Airport Communications Manager. "We've already predicted that by next year this time it is highly likely that the airport will have passed the 10million passenger mark and this growth affirms that", continued Davids.

 Looking at the last three months of 2015, on the Domestic front a total of 2.1 million passengers were process compared to 2014's 1.9million. On the Regional front 51304 passengers were processed, an 18.8% increase compared to 2014, while the international traffic saw an increase of 7.5%.

 The growth for the 2015 calendar year can be attributed to a number of things. On the Domestic front, new airlines and airline routes were introduced with Fly Blue Crane being the latest airline to start operating the Cape Town route. On the International front the direct flight Turkish Airlines put in place connecting Cape Town and Istanbul was positive. During the year SA Express also added the route to Pilansberg and Airlink to Wonderboom. Ethiopian Airlines was also introduced in the middle of 2015 operating between Addis Ababa via Gaborone and Johannesburg.

"The holiday season is not over yet. March is typically the busiest month of the year and all indicators are that this season will be one of the busiest ever. It is clear that traffic growth is strong and steady", added Davids.

​Domestic passengers are reminded to arrive an hour and a half before their flight and International passengers are reminded to arrive two and a half hours before their flight. "Passengers should also consider on-line check-in which greatly reduces their waiting time at the airport and utilise their airline bag drop counters for their check-in luggage. "Passengers also need to be mindful of the time needed to go through the security point and be at their boarding gates on time," concluded Davids.

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