Forget cost-of-living crises, geopolitical instability and global economic fears. Nothing, it seems, will stop Australians from travelling these school holidays. International airlines are offering more flights, to more places, and Australians have embraced the choice, with flight bookings on track to exceed last year’s pace.
The number of international flights operating in and out of Australia in July is up 7.8 per cent compared with the same time last year, driven by increasing supply to meet seemingly endless demand, according to aviation analytics company Cirium’s analysis of aggregated online travel agencies bookings.
Staffing levels at Sydney Airport have been boosted this year in the hope of avoiding scenes like these from last year.Credit: Steven Siewert
“We are seeing some increases in bookings on routes where non-stop flights are now operating,” said Ellis Taylor, Asia Pacific editor at Cirium. “Generally speaking, while these non-stop services pick up the premium passengers, they also boost interest – so other carriers that operate one-stop services through Asia or the Middle East also benefit.”
While Qantas is operating more non-stop services to Europe, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Emirates have also increased their capacity to their hubs, alongside Virgin Australia with its “wetlease” partner Qatar Airways, operating out of Doha.
Virgin’s entry onto the Doha route has allowed it – and Qatar Airways – to double capacity from most cities in time for the northern summer/our winter school holiday peak, Taylor said.
Australian Airports Association chief Simon Westaway said: “We will see record numbers of Australians travelling abroad over coming weeks; it’s a trend line that’s been in place for some time now – the pre-COVID international numbers are very much back.”
“For Australian households, travel has continued to be factored into their budget, and we’re seeing that being converted into travel [bookings],” he said.
Westaway noted there were now more than 60 airlines servicing international markets in Australia, and more than a dozen airports in the nation offering their flights.
Sydney Airport has boosted staff numbers to help passengers move around inside the terminals during this “bumper school holiday period”. And outside, in the notoriously gridlocked drop-off zones, airport staff will be directing vehicles to passenger arrival levels during peak periods.
“This is shaping up to be our busiest winter ever for international travel, which demonstrates the resilience of the sector in the face of geopolitical tensions and cost pressures,” said Sydney Airport chief Scott Charlton.
“More Australians are taking advantage of new destinations and extra capacity, and that’s reflected in the numbers we’re seeing through the terminal.”
Closer to home, Qantas, Air New Zealand and Virgin have increased flights to vacation hotspot Queenstown in New Zealand from Sydney and Brisbane, even as Jetstar cuts back some weekly services from Melbourne. “This may signify that the low-cost market served by Jetstar is moving into more full-service carrier territory,” Taylor said.
Capacity to some of Australia’s nearby international holiday destinations such as Bali and Fiji appears steady year-on-year, Taylor said, despite changes in the airlines delivering services.
Sydney Airport chief Scott Charlton says this winter is shaping up to be the busiest ever for international travel.Credit: Jeremy Piper
A Perth-Bali route operated by Indonesian low-cost carrier Citilink has exited the market while TransNusa, another Indonesian airline, has entered the Australian market for the first time.
“Broadly, it seems that Jetstar and Virgin are operating at similar levels to what they were last year,” Taylor said.
Sydney and Melbourne are expected to each welcome about 2 million passengers over a two-week period.
Melbourne Airport is expected to serve 1.92 million passengers from July 4 to July 21, while Sydney Airport is predicting 2.6 million through its gates from June 30 to July 20.
Melbourne foresees 647,927 international and 1.28 million domestic passengers, a 5 per cent increase on the previous year.
“The airport will welcome an AFL grand final crowd every day of the holidays, with a daily average of 107,000 passengers,” Melbourne Airport said in a statement.
In welcome news for Melbourne travellers, the same body scanners and CT X-ray technology machines are in place across all terminals, so passengers no longer need to remove laptops, tablets or aerosols from bags as they go through security.
At Sydney’s T1 International terminal and T3 Domestic terminal, laptops and aerosols can stay in hand luggage scanned at security lines. In T2 Domestic, passengers still need to remove laptops and aerosols from their hand luggage.
Sydney is trying to accelerate the rollout of the troubled SmartGates to speed the entry of passengers arriving in the country, but most inbound passengers still take more than half an hour to clear immigration.
Sydney Airport advises passengers to arrive one hour before a domestic flight, if carrying hand luggage only, two hours, if checking in bags, and a full three hours for international flights.
Brisbane Airport, meanwhile, is tipping a “record-breaking winter travel season”. Compared with last year, Brisbane expects 1.4 per cent growth in domestic terminal use over a 39-day period from June 13 to July 21 (comprising school holidays in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and New Zealand).
In a sign of a widening market for overseas travel, international terminal use is expected to surge 18.4 per cent over the previous corresponding period as more international carriers pile into Brisbane.
The weaker Australian dollar may be one reason travel to the US has softened.Credit: Getty Images
In mid-June, Singapore Airlines flights to Brisbane increased from 25 to 28 services a week. Last year, Cathay Pacific increased services from Brisbane to global hub Hong Kong from six to 10 flights a week.
But the short-term snapshot of bookings shows some unevenness. For bookings made for July travel, trips booked to New York area airports have fallen 11 per cent for JFK Airport and 23 per cent for Newark.
Taylor said the decline to those destinations is “broadly lower” but “may reflect that fewer Australians are taking the long trek there amid the lower currency”.
After falling to US59.9¢ in April on US tariff threats, the Australian dollar has more recently traded at about US65.5¢.
While backlash against Donald Trump could be a factor in softer bookings for New York, the weaker Aussie dollar “makes Australia an attractive destination for US visitors”, Taylor said.
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