• Time series data
• Monthly Reports and Data
• International airlines operated flights and seats
• Annual publications

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

Summary of month-on-month activity

• 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

• Monthly Reports and time series data
• Annual reports - financial and calendar years

Summary—May 2026

For May 2026, on time performance 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 82.1% for on time arrivals and 82.8% for on time departures. The cancellation rate for the month was 1.5%. The equivalent figures for May 2025 were 82.2% for on time arrivals, 83.4% for on time departures and 2.1% for cancellations. 

This month’s on time arrivals figure was higher 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 higher 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 84.4% for on time arrivals while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 82.7%. Hinterland achieved the highest on time arrivals at 93.3%, followed by Qantas at 84.5%, QantasLink at 84.4%, Virgin Australia at 82.8%, Skytrans Australia at 79.5%, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 79.0%, Jetstar at 78.8% and Rex Airlines at 71.2%.

On time departures

The Qantas network recorded 85.3% for on time departures while the Virgin Australia network recorded 84.1%. Hinterland achieved the highest level of on time departures for May 2026 at 96.7%, followed by Qantas at 87.8%, Virgin Australia at 84.1%, QantasLink at 83.9%, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 82.6%, Skytrans Australia at 80.1%, Jetstar at 76.2% and Rex Airlines at 73.7%.

Cancellations

QantasLink recorded the highest percentage of cancellations at 2.3% during the month. The second highest cancellation rate was from Rex Airlines at 2.2%, Skytrans Australia at 2.0%, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines at 1.4%, Qantas at 1.4%, Jetstar at 1.0%, Virgin Australia at 0.8% and Hinterland at 0.1%.

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 May 2026, the Perth-Newman sector had the highest percentage of on time arrivals (95.2%), while the Darwin-Perth sector had the highest percentage of on time departures (96.8%). The Perth-Sydney sector had the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (63.9%), while the Gold Coast-Adelaide sector had the lowest percentage of on time departures (62.5%). 

Cancellations were highest on the Port Macquarie-Sydney sector at 6.7%, followed by the Canberra-Sydney sector at 5.9%, the Sydney-Port Macquarie sector at 5.6%, the Sydney-Canberra sector at 4.9%, the Launceston-Melbourne sector at 4.8%, the Canberra-Melbourne sector at 4.5%, the Melbourne-Launceston sector at 4.4%, and the Mildura-Melbourne sector at 4.2%.

For the month of May 2026 there were 35 out of the 118 route sectors (from the 59 routes) that had zero cancellations: Adelaide-Alice Springs, Adelaide-Gold Coast, Alice Springs-Adelaide, Brisbane-Darwin, Brisbane-Hamilton Island, Brisbane-Hobart, Brisbane-Launceston, Brisbane-Mount Isa, Brisbane-Proserpine, Cairns-Sydney, Canberra-Gold Coast, Darwin-Brisbane, Darwin-Perth, Gold Coast-Adelaide, Gold Coast-Canberra, Hamilton Island-Brisbane, Hamilton Island-Sydney, Hobart-Brisbane, Hobart-Melbourne, Launceston-Brisbane, Melbourne-Darwin, Melbourne-Hobart, Melbourne-Sunshine Coast, Mount Isa-Brisbane, Perth-Broome, Perth-Darwin, Perth-Newman, Perth-Port Hedland, Proserpine-Brisbane, Sunshine Coast-Melbourne, Sydney-Cairns, Sydney-Hamilton Island, Sydney-Launceston, Ayers Rock-Melbourne, Melbourne-Ayers Rock.

Airports

Newman Airport recorded the highest percentage of on time arrivals (95.2%) and the highest percentage of on time departures (93.5%). Port Macquarie Airport recorded the lowest percentage of on time arrivals (66.7%) while Alice Springs Airport had the lowest percentage of on time departures (63.6%). These figures only refer to reported routes and do not cover all flights at these airports.

Table 1: Total Industry On Time performance for May 2026

Figure 1: Total Industry On Time performance by month from May 2023

• Current and previous Annual Reports
• 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.

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

Figure 2. Total Industry Cancellations by month from December 2020

Chapter 8

Download data

This chapter provides data on airline activity, aircraft numbers, on time performance and airfare price indexes. Information is provided for both international and domestic airlines, as well as a breakdown of airport traffic by state.

• 595 118 Australian domestic flights occurred in 2022-23. As with internal activity, the full recovery of the aviation industry to pre COVID levels has not yet occurred. At the height of the pandemic, domestic flights fell to 324 616, fewer than flight numbers in 1977-78.
• 11 020 Piston aircraft were registered in 31 December 2022 which is 1 011 more than the year before. This is the greatest increase recorded.  The number of helicopters registered fell from 2 467 to 2 351 over the same period.
• Sydney had the most aircraft movements with 282 251 in 2022-23.
• International flights from Australia are steadily recovering from the impacts of COVID. In 2022‑23 there were 150 684 flights, up from only 45 172 two years earlier.

Figure 1  Australia’ top 40 airports in 2022-23, passengers

Since 2019-20, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have remained the airports which experienced the most activity, with some regional airports outside of the top 30 entering and exiting the list.

Figure 2  International and domestic airline revenue passengers

Since 1977-78, the number of fare-paying passengers uplifted and discharged in Australia was steadily increasing both domestically and internationally, before a sharp drop beginning in 2019-20. 2021-22 shows some evidence of an improvement as border restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic ease.

Download data

Also see

• Infrastructure Construction Dashboard
• BITRE Road Construction and Maintenance Price Index and Sub-Indexes–2015 update
• Freight statistics
• Aviation Statistics
• Maritime Statistics
• Rail
• Road
• Safety

Chapter 8

Download data

This chapter provides data on airline activity, aircraft numbers, on time performance and airfare price indexes. Information is provided for both international and domestic airlines, as well as a breakdown of airport traffic by state.

• 616 thousand Australian domestic flights occurred in 2023–24. As with internal activity, the full recovery of the aviation industry to pre COVID levels has not yet occurred. At the height of the pandemic, domestic flights fell to 327 thousand, fewer than flight numbers in 1977–78.
• Sydney had the highest number of aircraft movements with 300 thousand in 2023–24.
• 11 832 Piston aircraft were registered as of 31 December 2023 which is 812 more than the year before. The number of helicopters registered increased from 2 351 to 2 593 over the same period.
• International flights from Australia are steadily recovering from the impacts of COVID. In 2023‑24 there were 196 thousand flights, up from only 45 thousand three years earlier.

Figure 17 shows Australia's top 40 airports by domestic and international passenger movements. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are the airports which experienced the most activity, with some regional airports outside of the top 30 entering and exiting the list.

Figure 17 Australia's top 40 airports in 2023–24, passengers

Figure 18 shows international and domestic revenue passengers. Since the early 80s, the number of fare-paying passengers, uplifted and discharged in Australia, was steadily increasing both domestically and internationally, before a sharp drop beginning in 2019–20. 2023–24 activity shows a strong trajectory to return to pre-COVID pandemic record highs in the coming years.

Figure 18 International and domestic airline revenue passengers

Download data

• Aviation—Yearbook 2024 (135.22 KB) - Download Excel file
• Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics—Yearbook 2024 - Download PDF

Also see

• Infrastructure Construction Dashboard
• BITRE Road Construction and Maintenance Price Index and Sub-Indexes–2015 update
• Freight statistics
• Aviation Statistics
• Maritime Statistics
• Rail
• Road
• Safety

Chapter 6

Download data

This chapter provides data on airline activity, aircraft numbers, on time performance and airfare price indexes. Information is provided for both international and domestic airlines, as well as a breakdown of airport traffic by state. 

• 602 thousand Australian domestic flights occurred in 2024–25. As with international activity, the full recovery of the aviation industry to pre-COVID levels has not yet occurred. At the height of the pandemic, domestic flights fell to 327 thousand, fewer than flight numbers in 1977–78.
• 11,995 Piston aircraft were registered as of 31 December 2024, which is 163 more than the year before. The number of helicopters registered increased from 2593 to 2730 over the same period.
• Sydney had the highest number of aircraft movements, with 292 thousand in 2024–25.
• International flights from Australia, are steadily recovering from the impacts of COVID. In 2024–25 there were 209 thousand flights, up from only 45 thousand four years earlier.

Figure 12 Australia’s top 40 airports in 2024-25, passengers

Source: BITRE (2025) Aviation Statistics - Airport Traffic data

Figure 12 shows Australia’s top 40 airports by domestic and international passenger movements. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are the airports which experienced the most activity, with some regional airports outside of the top 30 entering and exiting the list.

Figure 13 International and Domestic airline revenue passengers

Source: BITRE (2025), Aviation Statistics - International Airline Activity
BITRE (2025), Aviation Statistics - Domestic Airline Activity

Figure 13 shows international and domestic revenue passengers. Since the early 1980s, the number of fare-paying passengers, uplifted and discharged in Australia, was steadily increasing both domestically and internationally, before a sharp drop beginning in 2019–20 and recovering to around pre–COVID levels by 2024–25.

Download data

• Aviation—Yearbook 2025 (133 KB) - Download Excel file
• Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2025 - Download PDF

Also see

• Infrastructure Construction Dashboard
• BITRE Road Construction and Maintenance Price Index and Sub-Indexes–2015 update
• Freight statistics
• Aviation Statistics
• Maritime Statistics
• Rail
• Road
• Safety

This study investigates whether data on domestic aviation activity in Australia could be used as an indicator of Australian economic activity–with the view of developing an indicator of regional economic activity should initial tests be successful. Graphical analysis was the predominant method used to test the predictive power of aviation data, which is collected on a monthly basis by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), against Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment.

• Aviation activity as a leading indicator of economic activity
  
  sp_001.pdf
  (515.37 KB)

General aviation is a diverse sector that is undergoing change. While overall GA activity appears to be declining slowly, it is not accurate to say that all parts of GA are declining.

Those parts of GA that are discretionary in nature, such as pleasure flying, appear to decline in more conservative economic times, while those parts of GA that are a key part of an expanding industry, such as aerial mustering, have been growing strongly. Detailed economic analysis of these relationships is not currently possible due to the current lack of financial statistics for GA, however this report outlines some of the key challenges facing GA and identifies some key opportunities for the industry and Government to respond to these challenges.

 

• General Aviation Study 
  
  cr_001_0.pdf
  (2.54 MB)

This information sheet provides evidence about the relationship between airport infrastructure and economic activity. It draws together evidence from the international literature and evidence for major Australian airports. It presents estimates of the number of jobs located at major Australian airports in 2011, the industry structure and skill mix of that employment, and recent growth in employment based on the ABS Census of Population and Housing.

• Employment Generation and Airports
  
  is_046.pdf
  (1.52 MB)