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Melbourne Airport has seen its first April with more than a million international travellers.
Both international and domestic figures rose year-on-year, with 1,026,386 international and 2,084,257 domestic passengers – up 16 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively – for a new April record of 3.11 million passengers.
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Jim Parashos, chief of aviation at Melbourne Airport, said “demand for both international and domestic flights continues to grow” and that the city is an important global aviation hub.
“The back-to-back public holidays in the midst of school holidays created a blockbuster travel period, and travellers clearly made the most of it,” he said.
“We also welcomed around 16,000 delegates attending the Amway China Leadership Seminar, an event hosted in Melbourne in April. Events like this are a powerful reminder of how important destination marketing is.
“In an increasingly competitive global market, attracting major international delegations and conferences to Melbourne has significant benefits for our visitor economy, from hotels and restaurants to transport and tourism operators.
“To keep pace with demand, we’re working with our airlines to deliver an expansion of the international terminal and a third runway to ensure our airfield has the capacity to serve Victoria’s growing population.”
The news comes soon after Australia marked its best-ever month for international travel. According to BITRE data, 4.37 million international passengers travelled through Australian airports in January this year, 5.3 per cent higher than the previous monthly peak in January 2020.
International passenger numbers jumped 14.5 per cent year on year to 41.9 million for the 12 months ending January 2025, though this was still 1.6 per cent below the same period ending January 2020.
Fellow major gateway Sydney Airport had also marked its busiest international quarter in the three months ending March 2025.
A record high of 4.32 million international passengers passed through its terminals in the first quarter of 2025, up 3.9 per cent on the same quarter in 2024, as well as 6.08 million domestic and regional passengers for a total of 10.4 million.
These domestic figures represent a drop of 1.3 per cent year-on-year; however, international travel by Australian passport holders was up 7.5 per cent, with South Korean, Indian and Philippine passport holders also increasing on last year.
