Queenstown Airport Corporation says poor weather in September was behind a "flattening and softening" of the domestic market over the past three months.
Domestic passenger numbers through Queenstown Airport were 161,000 for July to September, down 3% on the corresponding quarter in 2007.
International passenger numbers, 41,000 through the terminal in the 2008 quarter, were the same as last year.
QAC chief executive Steve Sanderson said there was "a definite softening of numbers, but we need another quarter to get a feel for it". He said the figures were skewed because poor weather in September caused a high number of diversions.
The number of diversions at Queenstown averaged 1%-1.5% a month. However, it leapt to 7% in September, Mr Sanderson said. Poor weather at Christchurch and Wellington airports had also affected flights to and from Queenstown.
Mr Sanderson said the airport had enjoyed a period of growth over the past five years and it was holding that growth in 2008, particularly in the Australian short-haul market.
Christchurch International Airport Ltd (CIAL) reported a 6.8% overall increase in passenger numbers over the corresponding quarter last year, with domestic volumes up by 11.2% and international numbers down by 3.9%.
CIAL received a record 1,472,300 passengers over the July-September quarter.
Mr Sanderson said QAC's quarter was a reversal of CIAL's, and thought it was because Christchurch airport took low-cost carriers, whereas Queenstown did not.
"Queenstown is not about low cost. We have high-quality return visitors from Australia so, despite the economic crisis, we're still seeing strong numbers on our international side."
Destination Queenstown marketing general manager Graham Budd said Queenstown Airport was not in the same competitive environment as Christchurch, as it had only Air New Zealand and Qantas links.
"Given the growth in Australian passenger numbers last year, to be holding at about the same level is a positive result. I would suspect the . . . poor weather is the underlying reason behind the small domestic decline."
