Aviation system analysis

Where Australia's air travel growth went

Between 2019 and 2026, national passenger growth spread across more airports. Some gateways gained share, others ceded it while still growing.
Share of national passengers · 2019 to 2026
gained shareceded sharebroadly flat
2019 is the year ending March 2019, the last full pre-COVID year. The finding also holds against the 2017 to 2019 average. 2026 is the year ending March 2026.
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How to read this

Each airport's share is its passengers as a percentage of all Australian airport passengers in the same market and period. The chart shows the change in that share between 2019 and 2026 in percentage points. A smaller share while passenger numbers grow reflects growth spreading across more airports, not a decline.

What it shows and does not

This traces where national passenger growth landed. It does not establish where the passengers came from, and it takes no position on airport capacity, caps or curfews. The comparison cards split each airport's passenger change into a part from aircraft movements and a part from passengers per movement; passengers per movement can rise through larger or fuller aircraft, which this data cannot separate.

Source and method

Audited BITRE airport passenger and aircraft-movement data, rolling years ending March 2010 to 2026. An aircraft movement is one take-off or landing. Domestic covers Regular Public Transport including regional, counted at both airports, so figures represent airport activity rather than unique travellers. Directional analysis, not a forecast. Figures current to the year ending March 2026 and updated manually at each BITRE release.