Domestic aviation activity

Summary

Domestic RPT passenger traffic (monthly)
Domestic RPT passenger traffic (annual)

There were 5.31 million passengers carried on Australian domestic commercial aviation (including charter operations) in September 2023, an increase of 6.4 per cent on September 2022.

4.99 million passengers were carried on RPT flights in September 2023, an increase of 6.5 per cent compared to September 2022.

For the month of September 2023, there were 51,643 RPT aircraft trips, up 7.4 per cent compared to September 2022.

For the year ending September 2023 there were 56.21 million RPT passengers, an increase of 36.3 per cent on the year ending September 2022.

RPT revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) performed were 6.02 billion for the month, compared with 5.68 billion in September 2022 (up 5.9 per cent).

Capacity, measured by available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased to 7.37 billion in September 2023 compared to 6.63 billion in September 2022 (up 11.2 per cent).

The industry wide load factor (RPKs/ASKs) decreased from 85.7 per cent in September 2022 to 81.6 per cent in September 2023.

Sydney was Australia’s busiest domestic airport with 2.10 million passenger movements in September 2023, followed by Melbourne with 2.01 million passenger movements and Brisbane with 1.45 million passenger movements.

Total cargo movements at Australian airports on domestic RPT flights were 25,595 tonnes in September 2023, a decrease of 10.3 per cent compared with September 2022.

In September 2023, there were 2.15 million domestic passenger movements through regional airports, compared to 2.05 million in September 2022, an increase of 5.0 per cent.

Fixed-wing charter operators carried 329,214 passengers in September 2023, an increase of 5.7 per cent compared with September 2022. Perth Airport accounted for 37.4 per cent of all charter passengers in Australia.

Summary of annual RPT activity

  YE Sep 2022 YE Sep 2023 % Change
Total passengers carried (millions) 41.24 56.21 36.3
Revenue passenger kilometres (billions) 48.00 67.24 40.1
Available seats (millions) 57.29 71.94 25.6
Available seat kilometres (billions) 64.91 83.68 28.9
Load factor % 74.0 80.4 6.4*
Aircraft trips (000s)  498.4 605.1 21.4

* percentage point difference