Domestic air travel
in Australia.
Flying again, but along a changed network.
Domestic passenger trips are almost back to their pre-pandemic total. Behind that national figure, individual routes tell very different stories.
A trip is one flight stage, not one unique traveller. Figures use BITRE aviation statistics; chart 14 also uses ABS population estimates.
THE RECOVERY
Close to the old total.
Not the same journey.
From 60.98 million trips in 2018–19 to 60.75 million in 2025–26. National recovery conceals gains and losses across the network.
A 97% fall in two months, then a long climb back
Monthly passenger trips, July 2014–June 2026. Trips fell from 4.37 million in February 2020 to 145,895 in April 2020. BITRE notes that travel bans and state lockdowns began at the end of March 2020.
Two years stand out from a steady seasonal rhythm
Colour shows monthly volume; the busiest month (October 2019) and the quietest (April 2020) are labelled. White cells before July 2014 and after June 2026 are outside the data period, not zero trips.
Growth did not happen everywhere
Four substantial route changes plus all remaining national changes. The dark bar is the net result: 228,634 fewer trips than FY2018–19. The remainder includes routes outside the comparable group.
THE NETWORK
A big country.
A concentrated network.
Melbourne–Sydney alone accounts for 8.08 million trips. The ten busiest disclosed routes carry just over half of the national total.
FY2025–26 · 62 disclosed routes · 40 airports
The busiest links run along the east coast
Line width represents trips in both directions combined. The overview shows 15 routes; an airport selection adds its other disclosed links. Curves are schematic, not flight paths.
Three airports handle three-fifths of the traffic
Circle area shows route endpoint movements; a trip contributes to both airports. Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane account for 60.9% of them. These are totals for the disclosed routes, not complete airport traffic.
Ten routes, half the traffic
Tile area represents share of all 60.75 million trips. Tiles are grouped: the ten busiest routes (50.4%), the 52 other disclosed routes (38.4%), and trips BITRE does not disclose by route (11.1%). Airport selection leaves these shares unchanged.
STATE BY STATE
One recovery.
Different directions.
On the same 57 comparable routes, Western Australian endpoint movements grew by 19.5%. The ACT was 18.5% below its 2018–19 level.
Up in the west, down in the south-east
Percentage change in endpoint movements on the same 57 routes, FY2018–19 to FY2025–26, in four classes with breaks at −10%, 0% and +10%. This is not population-adjusted or a complete state total.
Three eastern states carry three-quarters of the activity
Circle area shows FY2025–26 endpoint movements on 62 disclosed routes; Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria account for 76.1%. Locations are displaced to separate circles; geographic area is not encoded.
Karratha–Perth gained most; Sydney and Melbourne routes lost most
The 12 largest absolute changes among 57 comparable city pairs. A large percentage increase on a smaller route need not represent a large number of additional trips.
ROUTE PATTERNS
Distance is only
part of the story.
State borders, route length and seat occupancy reveal different aspects of the network. None of these measures alone explains why a route grew or declined.
Most disclosed trips cross a state border
An alluvial diagram: ribbon width represents passenger trips across 62 routes. The distance bands are editorial groupings. These are categories, not itineraries, transfers or directional flows.
Half of all routes fill 80 to 90% of their seats
Annual passengers divided by available seats. Each route counts once; 31 of the 62 routes fall between 80% and 90%. This differs from BITRE's distance-weighted passenger load factor.
The steepest falls were on short routes
Each point is one of 57 comparable routes. All points have equal size. The four largest falls were on routes shorter than 500 km. The relationship is descriptive, not evidence that distance caused a change.
Fuller planes on most routes
Each line is one of 57 comparable routes, from FY2018–19 to FY2025–26. Seats filled is passenger trips divided by seats flown. Labels mark the eight busiest routes and the largest rise and fall. Label positions are spread apart for legibility; the line ends show the values. Choose a route in chart 12, or select a line, to follow one route.
PEOPLE & AIRPORTS
More residents.
Fewer flights each.
Australia had 2.64 million more residents at the end of 2025 than at the end of 2018. Passenger trips were 0.4% lower, so trips per resident fell by about a tenth.
The population grew faster than flying
Financial-year passenger trips divided by Australia’s resident population at 31 December, the midpoint of each year: 2.43 in 2018–19 and 2.19 in 2025–26. The dashed line marks the 2018–19 level. Trips include those taken by visitors, so this is a rate, not the number of flights a typical resident takes. Population: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The same top seven, movement below
Rank by passenger movements on scheduled domestic flights: arrivals plus departures, so each trip counts at both airports. The 15 busiest airports of 2025–26 are shown; the number after each name is the places gained or lost since 2014–15. Sunshine Coast rose from 15th to 10th. During 2020–22 the order at the top changed, with Brisbane first in 2020–21 and Melbourne first in 2021–22. Ranks to 2024–25 use every airport BITRE reports; 2025–26 uses its monthly file for the 20 busiest airports.
THE TAKEAWAY
A national recovery
is not a uniform recovery.
The total is close to 2018–19. The mix of journeys is not. Reading the national trend alongside comparable routes gives a more useful picture of how Australia is flying again.
Sources & scope
The data
BITRE, Australian domestic aviation activity: time series: Top routes workbook, July 2014–June 2026. BITRE, Airport traffic data: passenger movements by airport, 2014–15 to 2025–26 (chart 15). Australian Bureau of Statistics, National, state and territory population, March 2026: estimated resident population (chart 14). OurAirports: airport coordinates and state identifiers. Natural Earth: state boundaries.
Latest disclosed routes represent 53,982,647 trips, or 88.9% of the national total. National statistics include domestic stages of Australian international flights.
Source metadata Charts 13–15 metadataReading the figures
City-pair totals combine both directions. Withheld or unavailable records are not zero. The 57-route comparison uses the same routes in both years. Financial years run from July to June.
One exact duplicate was removed. The workbook's Ballina code QNA is provisionally matched to BNK. The publisher has not confirmed this correction. These figures describe the supplied snapshot, not a live feed.