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Melbourne Airport reached 94 per cent of pre-COVID-19 capacity in the 2024 financial year.
Australia’s second largest airport saw a total of 35,127,967 travellers, including 11 million international and 24 million domestic, in FY24, up 14 per cent on FY23. International is now 96 per cent recovered on 2019 levels, with domestic at 93 per cent.
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Additionally, 2,772,445 passengers used the airport in June 2024, 100,000 shy of the same month in 2019, airport CEO Lorie Argus said.
“The past year has been one of steady growth. We have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels as well as continued to work hard to introduce new airlines, new routes, more capacity and more choice for travellers,” she said.
“We became the first capital city airport in the nation to exceed pre-pandemic international capacity and we have seen huge growth in markets such as Vietnam and India thanks to liberalised bilateral agreements allowing existing airlines to expand operations while also enabling new airlines to enter the market.
“We’ve also been investing heavily in infrastructure so that we can meet future growth. We’re upgrading our terminals to improve the passenger experience, improving our road network to reduce congestion and planning for a third runway.”
According to Argus, the $3 billion third runway project will be “a crucial asset for the airport and the state”, and will contribute almost $6 billion to the Victorian economy per year.
“We’re on track to see more than 76 million passengers come through our terminals in 2042, which is more than double today’s figures,” she said.
“If our proposed runway project is approved, it will significantly increase our capacity by allowing simultaneous take-offs and landings, which will help improve on-time performance, increase operational resilience for airlines and provide the additional capacity they need to open Melbourne and its surrounding regions to more destinations, more often.”
Melbourne’s recovery is still behind that of Perth, which saw a record-breaking year in FY24 driven primarily by regional travel, after becoming the first major Australian gateway to surpass total pre-pandemic passenger traffic in January.
However, Melbourne’s cargo capacity has climbed above pre-pandemic levels as of the first quarter of calendar year 2024, making it Australia’s biggest air freight hub.
