More people are travelling between the Gold Coast and New Zealand than ever before, as the city firms up its position as a destination of choice for kiwis.

More than 50,000 people travelled between the Gold Coast and New Zealand last month, an increase of 6.8 per cent on the same time last year.

It comes as Gold Coast Airport’s passenger numbers continue to grow, with more than 570,000 passengers delivering the airport’s busiest April in history.

It is the airport’s seventh consecutive month of growth, with an additional 10,798 passengers, or nearly two per cent on April 2017, and brings passenger movements for the calendar year to date to more than 2.2 million.

A summary of year to date results is provided in the table below:

Airport CEO Chris Mills said the airport had seen continued growth in the New Zealand market, with April delivering a comparable number of passengers between the two destinations as last year’s ski season.

“It follows 9.8 per cent growth in March and firms up our position as a destination of choice for New Zealand visitors. The Gold Coast is second only to Sydney in terms of inbound leisure visitation to Australia from New Zealand,” he said.

“We are also seeing international visitors combine a visit to the Gold Coast and New Zealand in one holiday which is influencing strong numbers on these routes.”

Scoot added an additional weekly service to Singapore during the month, delivering 15.1 per cent more passengers between the Gold Coast and Singapore than April 2017.

Mr Mills said Commonwealth Games departures and school holidays also propelled April’s results.

“Our busiest day during the Games period was the last day of competition, April 15, when 23,048 passengers travelled through the airport,” he said.

“It was a great Games for Gold Coast Airport. We welcomed and farewelled athletes and officials from more than 50 Commonwealth nations and territories.

“April growth was softened slightly by the fact Easter 2017 fell in April, while Easter this year fell in March as well.”

Work on the airport’s terminal redevelopment is due to start later this year and will be completed in stages in the following years. Work is also expected to start this year on the $50 million airport hotel.

Gold Coast Airport welcomed more than 6.5 million passengers in 2017. Passenger movements are expected to reach 16.6 million annually by 2037.

QAL owns and operates Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach airports.