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Summary

There were 4.31 million passengers carried on Australian domestic commercial aviation (including charter operations) in February 2023, compared to 2.70 million in February 2022 and 4.60 million in pre-COVID February 2020.

For the month of February 2023, there were 45,986 RPT aircraft trips, compared to 32,346 in February 2022 and 48,410 in pre-COVID February 2020.

4.00 million passengers were carried on RPT flights in February 2023, compared to 2.44 million reported in February 2022 and 4.37 million reported in pre-COVID February 2020.

For the year ending February 2023 there were 53.68 million RPT passengers, an increase of 112.4 per cent on the year ending February 2022 and a decrease of 12.4 per cent on the year ending February 2020.

RPT revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) performed were 4.63 billion for the month, compared with 2.51 billion in February 2022.

Capacity, measured by available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased to 5.99 billion in February 2023 compared to 3.66 billion in February 2022.

The industry wide load factor (RPKs/ASKs) increased from 68.4 per cent in February 2022 to 77.2 per cent in February 2023.

For the month of February 2023, Melbourne – Sydney was Australia’s busiest RPT route with 573,180 passengers, followed by Brisbane – Sydney with 298,719 passengers and Brisbane – Melbourne with 229,893 passengers.

Sydney was Australia’s busiest domestic airport with 1.73 million passenger movements in February 2023, followed by Melbourne with 1.65 million passenger movements and Brisbane with 1.14 million passenger movements.

Total cargo movements at Australian airports on domestic RPT flights were 25,751 tonnes in February 2023, a decrease of 29.0 per cent compared with February 2022.

In February 2023, there were 1.65 million domestic passenger movements through regional airports, compared to 1.14 million in February 2022 and 1.73 million in pre-COVID February 2020.

Fixed-wing charter operators carried 307,603 passengers in February 2023, compared to 260,052 in February 2022 and 232,236 in pre-COVID February 2020.

Summary of annual RPT activity

* percentage point difference