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Australia has seen its busiest single post-COVID-19 day for airline passenger transport.
Thursday 18 September saw 2,799 flights, the highest since 2019, with Brisbane setting an all-time record at 617 movements on 26 September, driven by school holidays and major football finals, according to Airservices Australia’s Australian Aviation Network Overview report for last month.
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“These milestones reinforce the leisure-led nature of post-pandemic demand, highlighting how holiday travel and events continue to shape aviation growth,” said Airservices.
“Airlines added capacity and deployed larger aircraft to meet peak demand. International traffic was buoyed by outbound tourism to nearby destinations such as Bali and Kuala Lumpur, codeshare agreements connecting to global hubs, and inbound demand reflecting Australia’s position in high-value, long-haul travel segments.
“Airports are responding to this growth with multi-billion-dollar investments in terminal expansions, technology and sustainability, as seen in Sydney and Perth’s preliminary master plans.
“Fleet renewal, such as the entry of the Airbus A321XLR into commercial service, is enabling more direct, point-to-point leisure routes within Australia and internationally.”
According to Airservices, the growth last month was “led by major domestic airlines which increased services and deployed larger aircraft to meet surging demand”.
Qantas Group (excluding Jetstar) averaged 849 flights per day, or 34.3 per cent of total flights, while Virgin averaged 480 per day (19.4 per cent) and Jetstar 357 per day (14.4 per cent); Rex was a distant fourth at 152 flights per day, or 6.1 per cent.
“Southeast Asian carriers also showed strong gains, reflecting outbound travel to popular regional destinations during school holidays,” said Airservices.
“In contrast, Chinese airlines are consolidating frequencies, focusing on fleet and route optimisation, and shifting toward niche city pairs with strong trade and tourism links.”
In terms of Airservices’ own performance, September also saw air traffic control service variations drop to their lowest level since July 2022, dropping over 90 per cent from the monthly average, while ground delay program applications dropped by 50 hours compared to last September.
“Airspace service variation was limited to one area only. However, unplanned staffing unavailability in Sydney Terminal Airspace on 12 and 19 September highlighted that resilience gaps remain.”
“We continue to focus on active recruitment, training and building standby capacity, while improving end-to-end workforce planning processes to prevent and mitigate the impact of such events.
“Strong adoption of Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) at Brisbane and Perth continue to deliver benefits through optimised departure sequencing and the dynamic, real-time distribution of delays more equitably.
“Since its implementation, daily total air traffic flow management departure delays at Perth Airport have decreased substantially from around 390 minutes (~4minutes per flight) to just 50 minutes (less than a minute per flight).”
