News
Australia’s domestic passenger traffic fell 0.8% in January
April 8th 2026
Airlines in Australia flew 5.05 million passengers on scheduled domestic flights in January, down from 5.10 million in-country air travellers in the same month in 2025. Read More » Capacity measured by available seats rose 1.8% in the month, Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) said. With passenger numbers falling and seat capacity rising, the load factor slipped 3.1 percentage points to 81.1%. Australia’s busiest domestic route - Melbourne-Sydney - recorded a 4.5% drop in passenger numbers to 640,800 passengers for the reported 31 days, more than 30,000 below the 671,100 travellers who flew on the route in January 2025. In contrast to Melbourne-Sydney, Australia’s next two busiest domestic routes increased passengers year-on-year in January - Brisbane-Sydney was up 1.4% at 338,800, while Brisbane-Melbourne rose 3.5% to 317,000.
