Auckland International Airport says the numbers of international passengers passing through the airport were 0.5 percent lower in March than a year previously, reflecting Easter falling in March last year and in April this year.
The numbers of domestic passengers passing through the airport were down 3.8 percent on a year earlier.
Arrivals from Australia were up 13.5 percent in March, due to easter falling in the same month, and and the timing of school holidays.
But the number of visitors arriving from Germany rose for the 11th month in a row, jumping 13.2 percent in March..
The airport says Germany is closing in on Japan as the fifth largest source of visitors to Auckland with more than 57,000 Germans arriving in the 12 months ended March, compared with the more than 59,500 thousand Japanese.
Arrivals from France were up more than 39 percent in the month compared with March last year.
International visitors through the Queenstown Airport, which is a part owned by the Auckland company, were up 26 percent in March compared to a year ago.
Auckland airport says the growth has been driven by additional capacity on all trans-Tasman airlines servicing Queenstown.
The Queenstown airport is expecting a record winter season which kicks off on 15 June.
