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Summary

Travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 outbreak have resulted in severe disruptions to domestic air travel since April 2020.

There were 1.4 million passengers carried on Australian domestic commercial aviation (including charter operations) in November 2020, a decrease of 74.6 per cent on November 2019.

1.1 million passengers were carried on RPT flights in November 2020, a decrease of 79.0 per cent on November 2019.

RPT revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) performed were 1.23 billion for the month, down 79.6 per cent compared with November 2019.

Capacity, measured by available seat kilometres (ASKs), decreased by 72.4 per cent compared with November 2019 to a total of 1.98 billion.

The industry wide load factor (RPKs/ASKs) decreased from 83.8 per cent in November 2019 to 62.0 per cent in November 2020.

In November 2020, most published routes recorded significant decreases in the number of passengers carried compared with November 2019.

For the month of November 2020, Brisbane – Cairns was Australia's busiest RPT route with 74.5 thousand passengers, a decrease of 32.8 per cent compared with November 2019.

Total cargo movements at Australian airports on domestic RPT flights were 34.6 thousand tonnes in November 2020, a decrease of 13.1 per cent compared with November 2019.

In November 2020, there were 899.3 thousand domestic passenger movements through regional airports, 57.4 per cent less than in November 2019.

Fixed-wing charter operators carried 284.9 thousand passengers in November 2020, an increase of 23.6 per cent on November 2019. The largest increases were on major mining routes which also have RPT services. Perth Airport accounted for 37.1 per cent of all charter passengers in Australia.

Summary of annual RPT activity

*percentage point difference