Information and data on domestic aviation can be found at the following links.

• Time series data
• Australian Domestic Aviation Activity—Monthly Publications
• Australian Domestic Aviation Activity—Annual Publications
• Domestic Aviation Activity—Cities and Regions

Below are graphs and summary analysis relating to domestic aviation activity.      

Summary

There were 5.51 million passengers carried on Australian domestic commercial aviation (including charter operations) in April 2026, compared with 5.45 million in April 2025 (up 1.1%). This is also an increase of 2.6% on pre-COVID April 2019 passenger numbers (5.37 million).

5.12 million passengers were carried on Regular Public Transport (RPT) flights in April 2026 (excluding charter operations), an increase of 0.7% compared to April 2025.

For the month of April 2026, there were 51.0 thousand RPT aircraft trips, an increase of 0.7% on April 2025.

For the year ending April 2026, there were 60.82 million RPT passengers, an increase of 2.6% on the year ending April 2025.

RPT revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) performed were 6.19 billion for the month, compared with 6.18 billion in April 2025 (up 0.2%).

Capacity, measured by available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased to 7.64 billion in 

April 2026 compared to 7.47 billion in April 2025 (up 2.4%).

The industry wide load factor (RPKs/ASKs) decreased from 82.7% in April 2025 to 81.0% in April 2026. 

Total cargo movements at Australian airports on domestic RPT flights were 

25.8 thousand tonnes in April 2026, an increase of 0.8% compared with April 2025. 

In April 2026, there were 2.13 million domestic passenger movements through regional airports, an increase of 0.1% from April 2025. 

Fixed-wing charter operators carried 394.1 thousand passengers in April 2026, an increase of 6.0% compared with April 2025.

Summary of annual RPT activity

* percentage point difference

• 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

The purpose of BITRE's domestic airfare index is to monitor changes over time in the price of Australian air travel. Fares are collected monthly for the top 70 routes in the Australian domestic network.

Domestic Discount Airfares

Click the expand button at the bottom right of the dashboard to enter full screen mode.

Cheapest available return fares from January 2010

For Graphs, Summary table and Notes see further down the page. For collection methodology, see here. Collection methodology

Airfares time series from October 1992 to June 2026

Graphs

Domestic Airfares (Business)

Domestic Airfares (Restricted Economy)

Domestic Airfares (Best Discount)

Summary table

Real Domestic Airfare Index (July 2003 = 100)

Notes

Indexes are constructed from BITRE's monthly survey of airline internet booking sites. Fares are recorded only when they are available on the nominated day of travel (the last Thursday of the month). The series is a price index of the lowest available fare in each fare class, weighted over selected routes. It does not measure real airline yields, or average fares paid by passengers. For more information on methodology use the link at the top of this page.

Occasionally, the index may record an unusual result when the nominated day of travel falls on, or adjacent to, a public holiday:

• The travel date fell on a public holiday for April 2024, December 2024 and December 2025.
• The travel date fell the day before a public holiday for December 2020, January 2024, March 2024 and December 2025.
• The return travel date fell the day before a public holiday in March 2020 and March 2022.
• The travel date for April 2025 fell between 2 public holidays.
• The travel date for January 2025 fell after a public holiday

April 2021 to current—Best Discount index: During the period of "Half Off" air fares made available through Tourism Aviation Network Support (TANS), the BITRE Air Fares Survey has collected the cheapest available fare—using "Half Off" fares where available.

April 2021—Restricted Economy index: Virgin Australia Restricted Economy fares on some routes were noticeably lower this month. The Virgin Australia web site notes that complementary food would no longer be provided on Economy class fares as of 25 March 2021. It is not clear what part this change has played in the reductions to Virgin Australia's Restricted Economy fares.

Business class fares from April 2020: Fares collected may not include normal entitlements like meals and lounge access during the period impacted by COVID-19.

Index calculation for April 2020 to November 2020: There were significant reductions to airline services in April and May 2020 in particular due to the COVID-19 pandemic and valid fares were not available for many routes covered by the survey. The indexes for April to November 2020 are based on the available routes during those months compared to the same routes in the base period.

November 2017 change to Restricted Economy index: From November 2017, refunds of Jetstar's Restricted Economy products (Starter with Max) for cancellations are only available in the form of vouchers. Vouchers may only be redeemed for other Jetstar products and are therefore considered by BITRE to be closer to a transfer than a full refund. This change in Jetstar's product places it outside BITRE's definition of a restricted economy fare, which has resulted in a sharp increase in the restricted economy index for November 2017.

March 2015—the Full Economy index is discontinued: From the middle of February 2015, Qantas Airways ceased offering Full Economy fares for domestic travel. It is no longer possible to produce an index for this fare category. In the future, if Full Economy fares are offered on sufficient routes, the index for this fare category could be reinstated.

December 2011 and January 2012 changes to Business and Full Economy indexes: Both the Business and Full Economy indexes were substantially affected by changes to fare offered. In December 2011 the Business index fell substantially mainly due to reductions in many of these fares by Qantas. This index again dropped significantly in January 2012 as Virgin Australia introduced Business class fares on many more of their routes. With the expansion of Virgin Australia's Business class fares they removed their Premium Economy class fare completely. The removal of these fares resulted in the Full Economy index rising substantially in January 2012.

June 2011 change to Restricted Economy index: In June 2011 both Virgin Australia and Jetstar introduced simplified fare structures. The new fare types used in constructing the indexes are shown on the Methodology page. The major impact of this change was to the Restricted Economy index. The new Virgin Australia fares used for this category (Flexi) were substantially lower than the previously used Virgin fares (Flexible). In a competitive response Qantas also reduced its Flexi Saver fares on competing routes. These changes produced a sharp drop in the Restricted Economy index.

February 2008 change to Full Economy index: Prior to February 2008 the Full Economy Fare category was based solely on the Qantas Fully Flexible Fare. From February 2008 on the category was expanded to include Virgin Blue's Corporate Plus Fare, leading to a drop in the index at the point of changeover.

Consumer price index Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Catalogue No 6401.0. We acknowledge that the ABS has rebased CPI to September 2025 and this will be incorporated from the start of the 2026-27 financial year.

• 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

On 5 September2014, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, the HonJamie Briggs MP, released for public comment, a proposed project appraisal framework,developed by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics, inconsultation with state and territory governments. BITRE has revised the paperin view of the submissions received. The Assistant Minister released the finalversion on 7 November 2014.

The paper is the outcome of Australian, state and territory governments agreeing to consult todevelop a more sophisticated and consistent framework to assess and evaluatemajor infrastructure projects.

• Overview of project appraisal for land transport
  
  overview_of_project_appraisal_for_land_transport.pdf
  (801.65 KB)

Australian Transport Statistics provides an easy introduction to a diverse range of transport statistics. Topics include employment, GDP, passenger and freight movements, trade, funding, motor vehicles, fatalities and estimated greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the transport industry. Various international comparisons are included and details provided for the road,rail, marine and aviation sectors. Data are gathered from various sources both within the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics and external organisations.

• Australian Transport Statistics 2006
  
  stats_001-ATS2006.pdf
  (572.85 KB)

The first edition of the Guidelines (ATC 2004a) was produced by the Guidelines Assessment Methodology Working Group (endorsed by the Standing Committee on Transport). It incorporated a generic framework, with an initial focus on non-urban land transport (road, rail, inter-modal).

In 2005, The Australian Transport Council (ATC) established a Guidelines Implementation Committee (GIC) to review, update and improve the Guidelines in line with learnings and feedback received during their implementation. The ATC also asked the GIC to extend the Guidelines to urban transport.

This second edition of the Guidelines has been produced by the GIC in response to the directive of the ATC. The Guidelines have been restructured to make them more concise, accessible and user-friendly, while maintaining rigour. The Guidelines have also been extended to urban transport.

The restructured Guidelines comprise five documents, with each document focusing on the needs of a particular audience:

• Volume 1: Introduction to the Guidelines and Framework–a brief overview of the direction and content of the Guidelines and Framework.
• Volume 2: Strategic Transport Planning and Development–a detailed description of the Framework.
• Volume 3: Appraisal of Initiatives–a comprehensive guide to appraisal of transport initiatives.
• Volume 4: Urban Transport–supplementary material on urban transport, covering the appraisal of public transport initiatives and urban transport modelling.
• Volume 5: Background Material–contains detailed background material that underpins the methodology outlined in Volume 2 and Volume 3 of the Guidelines.

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. Rothengatter is an internationally recognised authority on the application of transport theory to policymaking. He is head of the Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Unit of Transport and Communication at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

To be included on the 2008 Colloquium mailing list, please email btre.colloquium@dotars.gov.au

• BTRE 2007 Transport Colloquium–Program
  
  other_001_colloquium07.pdf
  (1.06 MB)

This economic growth update builds on information paper 54, Focus on regions 3–Taxable Income.

The taxable income database contains small-area data from 1980–81 to 2004–05 on a number of indicators. The main indicator is the amount of taxable income each region earns, the change in which can be used as an indicator of economic growth.

The interactive pdfs accompanying the update contain maps of regional growth, graphs of growth by state and remoteness class, and the methodology for the update.

• Notes on method: the BITRE's taxable income database 2007 update
  
  other_001_InteractiveDATA.pdf
  (118.16 KB)
• Taxable income database
  
  
  other_001_2007database.xls
  (4.7 MB)

This is the 2007 update of BITRE's economic growth database. For the latest update of the database, please click here Regional economic growth database update 2005–06.

The taxable income database contains small-area data from 1980–81 to 2004–05 on a number of indicators. The main indicator is the amount of taxable income each region earns, the change in which can be used as an indicator of economic growth.

In the interactive pdfs accompanying the update, BITRE has created over a hundred maps and many supporting graphs which allow you to explore inter-regional comparisons and time series of regional growth in Australia. These are often at the local government level.

To access these, you will need to download (SAVE) the files below (~8MB).

NOTE:This program will not run unless SAVED first.

Download (SAVE) the EconomicGrowth_V1.1.zip file, extract it, and double click other_002_EconomicGrowth_V1.1.Msi to install. Mac and Linux users download the Zip file and double click to extract.

The pdfs and database will then be permanently accessible on your computer.

This economic growth update builds on information paper 54, Focus on regions 3–Taxable Income.

• Regional Economic Growth for MS Windows (msi)
  
  other_002_economicgrowth_v1.1.zip
  (14.82 MB)
• Regional Economic Growth for Mac and Linux
  
  other_002_TI_DATABASE_2007.zip
  (7.51 MB)
• Notes on method: the BITRE's taxable income database 2007 update
  
  other_002_InteractiveDATA.pdf
  (137.93 KB)
• Taxable income database
  
  other_002_2007database.xls
  (4.7 MB)