International airline activity

Summary

Sixty-two international airlines operated scheduled services to/from Australia during the month (includes three dedicated freight airlines but excludes airlines operating only via code share arrangements).

International scheduled passenger traffic in January 2026 was 4.620 million compared to 4.372 million in January 2025 – an increase of 5.7%. This is the third time that passenger traffic has exceeded its pre-pandemic record high of 4.154 million passengers in January 2020 (the first was January 2025 with 4.372 million and the second was December 2025 with 4.428 million).

Passenger traffic for the year ended January 2026 was 45.097 million which is a 7.6% increase over the figure for the year ended January 2025 (41.921 million).

Total seats made available on international scheduled operations to/from Australia during January 2026 were 5.610 million – an increase of 7.9% compared to January 2025. The overall seat utilisation percentage was 83.8% in January 2026. It was 85.8% in January 2025 and 81.5% in January 2024.

Summary of year on year activity

  Year ended January 2025 Year ended January 2026 Change
Total passenger movements (million) 41.921 45.097 7.6%

Summary of month on month activity

  January 2025 January 2026 Change
Passengers carried (million) 4.372 4.620 5.7%
Freight (tonnes) 93 590 89 151 -4.7%
Mail (tonnes) 2 021 1 949 -3.6%
Available Seats (million) 5.199 5.610 7.9%
Flights 19 960 21 664 8.5%
Aircraft Movements 20 458 22 082 7.9%
Passengers carried by month (millions)