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Major airports and airlines on Australia’s east coast are bracing for a surge in domestic passengers on Friday ahead of the AFL grand final in Melbourne this weekend.
The clash between the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions on Saturday is expected to see more than 254,000 passengers pass through the terminals at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Airports, with Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar all adding more capacity to meet demand.
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Brisbane is forecasting 62,000 travellers on Friday, with many expected to fly via Sydney as an alternative to flying non-stop to Melbourne; the numbers are also tipped to be bolstered by Queenslanders coming home from school holidays and NSW residents heading north for their own school holidays.
For its part, Sydney expects more than 80,000 domestic passengers on Friday – its biggest day of the September school holiday period – while Melbourne is forecasting more than 114,000 passengers, more people than are expected at the MCG for the grand final itself.
“Friday would have been busy even without the Lions making the Grand Final due to the school holiday overlap, but now it is in record breaking territory,” said Brisbane Airport spokesperson Peter Doherty.
“Airlines have added 40 additional flights across the period to cope with this surge in demand.
“Even though there is a large number of people on the move, our advice to travellers is to arrive the normal 90 minutes prior to your domestic departure, check-in online before you get to the terminal and book car parking in advance.”
Virgin says it has scheduled more than 46,000 seats into Melbourne for the three days from 26 to 28 September, 7 per cent higher than the same three days last year.
“Virgin Australia has seen huge demand in response to footy finals and is committed to helping fans get to and from the upcoming Grand Final, as the official airline partner of the AFL,” a spokesperson said.
“Over the past two weeks, we have added more than 6,500 additional seats for fans travelling to and from the semi-finals, preliminary matches and ahead of this weekend’s Grand Final.
“We are continually monitoring demand to and from Melbourne this week.”
Qantas Group said it expected to fly close to 100,000 passengers into Melbourne for the final, with around 2,500 seats still for sale across Qantas and Jetstar for Thursday, Friday and Saturday as of Thursday morning.
“Across both airlines, 17 extra flights have been added from Brisbane and Sydney into Melbourne to meet increased demand, with more than 5,500 additional seats between the cities this weekend,” a spokesperson said.
“On flights back to Brisbane on Sunday 29 September, all direct Qantas and Jetstar flights from Melbourne, including the extra capacity, have sold out in economy with a handful of business seats remaining. There are still options for customers to travel via Canberra.
“Seats may become available on these services if existing customers opt to change their flight. As footy tickets have been on sale for a number of days, we expect the majority of fans have already booked their flights.”
