• Australian Aircraft Activity reports and time series data files

Summary of current report

This annual survey covers all civilian registered aircraft used in the Commercial Air Transport (CAT), general aviation and sport and recreation sectors of the Australian aviation industry.

The CAT sector is scheduled commercial air transport and non-scheduled commercial air transport operations. The general aviation sector is all other VH registered aircraft (other than commercial air transport). The sport and recreation sector includes aircraft registered with one of the following Civil Aviation Safety Authority regulated self-administration bodies:

• Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus),
• Gliding Australia,
• Sports Aviation Federation of Australia (SAFA) or,
• the Australian Sport Rotorcraft Association (ASRA).

The major categories of flying are aerial work, own use business flying, instructional flying, personal and pleasure flying and other flying. In addition, the sport aviation segment includes operations by ultralight aircraft, gliders, hang gliders and gyrocopters. The survey results are merged with details from the civil aircraft register which gives access to additional relevant information including aircraft type, engine and fuel type, country and year of manufacture.

The base measure of this report is flying hours. All operators of Australian registered aircraft are asked to report the hours flown and landings across the various flying categories. The VH registered response to this year's reporting request was 70.2%.

Since 2020 aircraft registered with RA-Aus have been included in the annual Australian Aircraft Activity Report. The RA-Aus response to this year’s reporting request was 72.6%. Statistics for the remainder of the sport aviation segment are collected directly from the self-administrating associations.

Key Indicators

In 2024 the total hours flown in Australia by Australian owned and operated aircraft increased by 1.4% to 3.63 million hours.

CAT hours flown by VH registered aircraft increased by 1.5% to 1.93 million hours. Hours flown by scheduled commercial air transport increased by 4.7% to 1.44 million hours, while hours flown by non-scheduled commercial air transport decreased by 6.9% to 489,442 hours.

General aviation hours flown by VH registered aircraft increased by 2% to 1.4 million hours. Sport and pleasure flying hours decreased (down 10% to 221,665 hours), instructional flying (up 14.5% to 437,458 hours), own-use business flying (up 1.3% to 131,330 hours) and aerial work (down 1.4% to 542,419 hours).

Sport aviation (ultralights, gliders, hang gliders and gyrocopters) activity generally experiences large swings in activity from year to year. In 2024, sport aviation activity decreased 1.5 % to 328,574 hours.

Hours Flown in Australian Aircraft Activity (000's)—year end December

^*VH aircraft are registered with CASA
^*non-VH aircraft are registered with self-administrating associations

• Airline on-time performance—monthly reports and time series data
• Airline on-time performance—annual reports (financial and calendar years)

Summary—July 2026

For July 2026, on time performance over all routes operated by participating airlines (Hinterland, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans Australia, Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines) averaged 78.4% for on time arrivals and 78.8% for on time departures. The cancellation rate for the month was 1.5%. The equivalent figures for July 2025 were 73.0% for on time arrivals, 74.2% for on time departures and 3.1% for cancellations.
This month’s on time arrivals figure was lower than the long term average (average over the period of OTP reporting starting in November 2003) performance for all routes (80.5%) and the on time departures figure was also lower than the long term average (81.6%). The rate of cancellations was lower than the long term average of 2.2%.

On-time arrivals

The Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 81.4% for on time arrivals while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 76.3%. Hinterland achieved the highest on time arrivals at 93.1%, followed by Qantas at 82.1%, QantasLink at 81.0%, Skytrans Australia at 79.5%, Rex Airlines at 76.9%, Virgin Australia at 76.5%, Jetstar at 72.5% and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 65.6%.

On-time departures

The Qantas network recorded 82.0% for on time departures while the Virgin Australia network recorded 77.1%. Hinterland achieved the highest level of on time departures for July 2026 at 96.1%, followed by Qantas at 84.4%, Skytrans Australia at 80.9%, QantasLink at 80.6%, Rex Airlines at 80.1%, Virgin Australia at 77.2%, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 75.9% and Jetstar at 70.0%.

Cancellations

Skytrans Australia recorded the highest percentage of cancellations at 3.6% during the month. The second highest cancellation rate was from QantasLink at 2.2%, Qantas at 1.6%, Virgin Australia at 1.4%, Rex Airlines at 1.2%, Jetstar at 0.9%, Hinterland at 0.4% and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 0.0%.

Routes

Airlines’ on time performance varies across the routes they serve. Individual route data by specific airline for 59 routes (118 sectors when counting both directions of flights) are shown on pages 10-21.
Of the 59 routes which met the criteria for on time performance reporting in July 2026, the Adelaide-Perth sector had the highest percentage of on time arrivals (91.9%), while the Brisbane-Mount Isa sector had the highest percentage of on time departures (95.8%). The Alice Springs-Adelaide sector had the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (50.0%) and the lowest percentage of on time departures (46.0%). 
Cancellations were highest on the Canberra-Sydney sector at 5.4%, followed by the Mildura-Melbourne sector at 5.2%, the Sydney-Canberra sector at 4.7%, the Canberra-Melbourne sector at 4.5%, the Melbourne-Sydney sector at 4.3% and the Sydney-Melbourne sector at 4.2%.
For the month of July 2026 there were 39 out of the 118 route sectors (from the 59 routes) that had zero cancellations: Adelaide-Alice Springs, Adelaide-Perth, Alice Springs-Adelaide, Ayers Rock-Melbourne, Brisbane-Cairns, Brisbane-Canberra, Brisbane-Darwin, Brisbane-Hamilton Island, Brisbane-Hobart, Brisbane-Launceston, Brisbane-Mount Isa, Brisbane-Newcastle, Brisbane-Proserpine, Broome-Perth, Cairns-Brisbane, Canberra-Brisbane, Canberra-Gold Coast, Darwin-Brisbane, Darwin-Perth, Gold Coast-Canberra, Hamilton Island-Brisbane, Hobart-Brisbane, Launceston-Brisbane, Melbourne-Ayers Rock, Melbourne-Cairns, Melbourne-Darwin, Mount Isa-Brisbane, Newcastle-Brisbane, Newman-Perth, Perth-Adelaide, Perth-Broome, Perth-Darwin, Perth-Newman, Proserpine-Brisbane, Sydney-Ballina, Sydney-Coffs Harbour, Sydney-Hobart, Sydney-Wagga Wagga, and Wagga Wagga-Sydney.

Airports

Mount Isa Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time arrivals (91.7%) while Emerald Airport had the highest percentage of on time departures (89.6%). Alice Springs Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (58.0%) and the lowest percentage of on time departures (46.0%). These figures only refer to reported routes and do not cover all flights at these airports.

Table 1: Total industry on-time performance for July 2026

Figure 1: Total industry on-time performance by month from July 2023

• Airline on-time performance—annual reports
• Airline on-time performance—monthly reports and time series data

Summary – 2025 Calendar Year

For the year ended December 2025, on time performance (OTP) over all routes operated by participating airlines (Hinterland, Jetstar, Qantas, QantasLink, Rex Airlines, Skytrans Australia (formerly Smartlynx Australia), Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines) averaged 76.9 per cent for on time arrivals and 77.7 per cent for on time departures. The cancellation rate for the year was 2.5 per cent. The equivalent figures for 2024 were 74.6 per cent for on time arrivals, 75.4 per cent for on time departures and 2.6 per cent for cancellations. Airlines’ on time performance varies across the routes they serve. Individual route data by specific airline for 60 routes which operated for at least part of the 2025 calendar year are shown on pages 9-21.

The 2025 on time arrivals figure was lower than the long-term average (average over the period of OTP reporting starting in November 2003) performance for all routes (80.5 per cent) and the on time departures figure was also lower than the long-term average (81.6 per cent). The rate of cancellations was higher than the long-term average of 2.2 per cent.

On time arrivals

The Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined operations) recorded 77.9 per cent for on time arrivals while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 76.0 per cent. Hinterland achieved the highest on time arrivals at 88.4 per cent, followed by Skytrans Australia at 85.1 per cent, QantasLink at 78.3 per cent, Qantas at 77.2 per cent, Virgin Australia at 76.0 per cent, Jetstar at 75.2 per cent, Rex Airlines at 73.0 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 71.5 per cent.

On time departures

The Qantas network recorded 78.8 per cent for on time departures while the Virgin Australia network recorded 77.0 per cent. Hinterland achieved the highest level of on time departures for 2025 at 92.5 per cent, followed by Skytrans Australia at 86.3 per cent, Qantas at 79.7 per cent, QantasLink at 78.3 per cent, Virgin Australia at 77.2 per cent, Rex Airlines at 76.0 per cent, Jetstar at 73.6 per cent and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 67.6 per cent.

Cancellations

Skytrans Australia recorded the highest percentage of cancellations at 8.4 per cent during the year. The second highest cancellation rate was from QantasLink at 3.6 per cent, followed by Qantas at 2.7 per cent, Rex Airlines at 2.5 per cent, Jetstar at 2.2 per cent, Virgin Australia at 1.7 per cent, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 1.1 per cent and Hinterland at 0.8 per cent.

Routes

Of the 60 routes which met the criteria for OTP reporting, the Townsville-Cairns route (Jan 2025 only) had the highest percentage of on time arrivals (90.9 per cent) and the highest percentage of on time departures (90.9 per cent). For those routes reporting for the entirety of 2025, Emerald-Brisbane had the highest percentage of on time arrivals (89.8 per cent) and the highest percentage of on time departures (88.4 per cent). The Hamilton Island-Sydney route had the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (60.8 per cent) and the lowest percentage of on time departures (61.6 per cent). 

Cancellations were highest on the Canberra-Sydney route at 6.2 per cent, followed by the Sydney-Canberra route at 5.6 per cent, the Port Lincoln-Adelaide and Sydney-Melbourne routes at 4.4 per cent, the Port Macquarie-Sydney and Melbourne-Sydney routes at 4.3 per cent, the Adelaide-Port Lincoln and Gladstone-Brisbane routes at 4.1 per cent, the Sydney-Port Macquarie route at 4.0 per cent and the Devonport-Melbourne route at 3.9 per cent. 

Cancellations were lowest on the Melbourne-Ayers Rock at 0.0 per cent, followed by the Sydney-Hamilton Island route at 0.1 per cent, Ayers Rock-Melbourne and Sydney-Cairns routes at 0.3 per cent, and the Perth-Newman and Melbourne-Sunshine Coast routes at 0.4 per cent.

Airports

Of the airports with OTP reporting for 2025, Emerald Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time arrivals (86.2 per cent) and the highest percentage of on time departures (88.4 per cent). Port Macquarie Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (70.0 per cent) and Broome Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time departures (64.8 per cent). These figures only refer to reported routes and do not cover all flights at these airports.

Table 1: Total industry on-time performance for 2025

Figure 1. Total Industry Arrivals and Departures On Time by month from December 2020

Figure 2. Total Industry Cancellations by month from December 2020

The Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES) provides financial assistance for cost incurred by shippers of eligible non-bulk goods moved by sea across the Bass Strait. More information about the operation of the Scheme can be found at Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.

Under the TFES Ministerial Directions, BITRE provides a statistical report on all components of the Scheme every four years. The Monitoring Reports and other reports related to the scheme are linked below.

Monitoring Reports

• Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme Monitoring Report 2024
• Consultation Draft Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme Monitoring Report 2024
• Monitoring report 2020 Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme

Other Reports

• Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme - Review of the expanded component: Final Report (2018)
• Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: A 'Landbridge' Approach to the Estimation of Subsidy Rates (1981)
• Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: Recommended Rates of Assistance for Southbound Cargoes, Livestock and Timber at 31 January 1979
• Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: Recommended Northbound Assistance Rates at 1 January 1978
• Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: Discussion Paper September 1996

Tasmanian Freight Schemes Parameter Reviews

• Tasmanian Freight Schemes—Parameter Review 2013
• Tasmanian Freight Schemes—Parameter Review, October 2011
• Tasmanian freight schemes parameter review (2008)

Chapter 1: Freight

 

• Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2025 - Download full report PDF
• Freight—Yearbook 2025 (128 KB) - Download Excel file

Freight transport activity (Figures 1 and 2) is measured in terms of tonne kilometres (the number of tonnes moved by a vehicle multiplied by the distance the load travelled in kilometres). The Australian domestic freight task has experienced strong growth over the last 40 years, with road and rail freight now dominating domestic freight activity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the total bulk and non-bulk freight task fell slightly, from 780 billion tonne kilometres in 2018–19 to 760 billion tonne kilometres in 2020–21. It has grown over the last three years and is estimated to have reached its highest point in 2024–25 at 786 billion tonne kilometres.

• Melbourne had the most metropolitan road freight estimated at 18.2 billion tonne kilometres in 2024–25.
• NSW’s estimated road freight for 2024–25 was the highest on record at 87.6 billion tonne kilometres. 

Figure 1 shows a map of Australia's major domestic freight flows by transport mode (based on 2023–24 figures). Line and arrow thickness indicate the volume of freight carried on each route, not the value of freight or performance of supply chains. The map shows that the highest volume domestic freight route is iron ore transported by rail in the Pilbara region. This next largest individual flow is coal carried by rail in Central Queensland and the Hunter Valley, followed by bauxite shipped from Weipa and Gove to Gladstone.

Figure 1 Australian Freight Flows Map

Sources: 
ABARES (2024), Agricultural Commodity Statistics, March 2024, ABARES, Canberra.
ABS (2002), Freight Movements, Australia, Summary, Mar 2001 (Reissue), Catalogue no. 9220.0, ABS, Canberra.
ABS (2015), Freight Movements Australia, 12 Months ended 31 October 2014, Catalogue no. 9223.0, ABS, Canberra.
BITRE (2022), Australia interstate, intrastate and capital city road freight forecasts - 2022 update, Research Report 155, BITRE, Canberra.
BITRE (2023), Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2023, BITRE, Canberra.
BITRE (2024), BITRE estimates, BITRE, Canberra.
BITRE, Australian Sea Freight 2023–24, Statistical Report, BITRE, Canberra ACT.
DISER (2024), Resources and Energy Quarterly, December 2023, Office of the Chief Economist, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Canberra.
DITRDCA (2024), Coastal Trading Licensing System (unpublished data), Canberra ACT.
NFDH (2024), Freight Train Movement Data from ARTC, National Freight Data Hub, Canberra.
Qld DoR (2024), Coal production data, September 2023, Queensland Department of Resources, Brisbane.

Figure 2 illustrates Australian domestic freight activity by transport mode from 1974–75 to 2024–25. The chart indicates that rail and road account for the majority of domestic freight movement. In 2024–25, rail transported approximately 447 billion tonne kilometres of freight, while road accounted for approximately 253 billion tonne kilometres.

Figure 2 Australian domestic freight task, by mode of transport

 Source: BITRE Estimates

Chapter 7: Shipping

• Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2025 - Download PDF
• Shipping—Yearbook 2025 (124 KB) - Download Excel file

This chapter provides information on Australian ships, cargo, ports and fleet, including mileage, tonnage and number of vessels. The data is sourced from BITRE’s Australian Sea Freight publication, BITRE’s Waterline publication and BITRE estimates based on Lloyd's List Intelligence data.

• 9.1 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) were exchanged at container terminals in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle, and Adelaide in 2024–25.
• 32,142 port calls were made to Australian ports in 2024–25. The states with the highest number were Western Australia with 9,580 and Queensland with 8,244.
• 5,841 different cargo vessels visited Australian ports in 2024⁠–⁠25.
• There were 53 Australian registered vessels in the Australian trading fleet, including small vessels, and 83 overseas registered vessels in 2022–23.

Figure 14 Principal Australian ports, by commodity

Figure 15 shows the number of port calls by state from 1999-00 to 2024-25. Queensland and Western Australia saw the largest increases and were consistently Australia’s two most visited states by cargo ships. 

Figure 15 Number of port calls by state/territory

Note: “Other” includes state/territory not clearly specified in the source data. 
Data may change slightly from year to year due to revisions to historical data. Ships that have made only port calls in the financial year where the target port equals the previous recorded port are excluded.
Source: BITRE estimates based on Lloyd’s List Intelligence data

The background statistical paper Private sector support for the arts in Australia highlights the essential role of philanthropy and corporate sponsorship in the sustainability of the creative sector.

The analysis provides the first estimate of private sector support to the arts in Australia since 2009–10, which is estimated to have increased from $221.1 million in 2009–10 to between $268.5 million and $279.8 million in 2015–16.

These estimates cover a diverse range of arts organisations from small volunteer-run groups to considerably larger organisations, such as Australia’s 28 major performing arts companies.

While like-for-like comparison between countries is not possible, Australia appears to compare well internationally. Broadly, the paper estimates that Australia’s per‑capita private sector support for the arts is higher than in Canada and similar to England, though lower than in the United States.

The aim of the Australian Infrastructure Statistics and Transport Yearbook is to provide a single, comprehensive annual source of infrastructure statistics for use by policymakers, industry, transport analysts and the wider Australian community. You can download the PDF or data files here:

• Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics—Yearbook 2025 (PDF 9.3 MB) 
• Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics—Yearbook 2025 data (ZIP: 1.4 MB)

For a summary of each chapter select from the list below:

1. Freight	2. Passengers
3. Road-related revenue and expenditure	4. Road
5. Rail	6. Aviation
7. Shipping	8. Transport safety
9. Transport energy and environment	10. Infrastructure and the economy
11. Infrastructure construction

This release provides statistics relating to the number of vehicles registered for road use in Australia on 31 January 2025. The statistics encompass all vehicles that were registered with an Australian state or territory motor vehicle registry for unrestricted use on public roads, as reported by jurisdictions to the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System (NEVDIS). This is the fourth annual release of Road Vehicles Australia and replaces the ABS Motor Vehicle Census, discontinued in 2021. Relevant statistics are available on data.gov.au.

This compendium provides insights, analysis, and an understanding of the railway industry. Australia's railways are evolving due to changes outside and within the industry. These changes include logistics, commodity flows, technology, urban patronage, and regional passenger services. The publication presents an overview and data on railway transport tasks performed, characteristics of the railways and train operators' rolling stock that runs and aspects of railway performance including safety, environment and reliability.

Trainline 12 gives an overview of freight, urban and non-urban passenger rail. The report analyses traffic levels, the provision of infrastructure and rolling stock, and railway performance. It is the twelfth in the publication series.