News
Australia domestic passenger numbers halved in 2020-2021
September 14th 2021
Domestic passengers carried on scheduled commercial flights in Australia collapsed by 52.4%, to 21.6 million, in the 12 months to June 30, from 45.2 million in the prior corresponding period, figures from the country's Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) show. Read More » The number of aircraft trips declined 33.6%, at 326,500, and passenger load factor dropped 15.1 percentage points to 64.1%. Capacity, measured by available seat kilometres (ASK), was cut by 42.1%. "Travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 outbreaks have resulted in severe disruptions to domestic travel since April 2020," the report said. Melbourne-Sydney retained its place as the busiest domestic route by passengers, but total traffic fell 73.8%, to 1.73 million passengers in 2020-2021. Brisbane Airport leapfrogged Melbourne and Sydney in terms of passenger numbers to take the top spot with 7.31 million air travellers passing through its terminals in the 12-month period. But numbers were down 44.2%, from 13.1 million passengers compared with the prior year. At Sydney airport, passenger traffic tumbled 63.9%, to 7.26 million. Melbourne suffered a 69% drop, to 5.9 million passengers.
