Back in the air and rapidly getting on track

If our planes, trains and cars are any guide, we’re back on the road, back in the air — domestically at least — and quickly coming back on track.

Public transport data in NSW drawn from Opal card use shows overall trips in March were 42 million, down from 60 million in February 2020 but well up from the state’s April 2020 low of just over 12 million. Picture: Joel Carrett

If our planes, trains and cars are any guide, we’re back on the road, back in the air — domestically at least — and quickly coming back on track.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce on Thursday said his carrier’s domestic flights would hit 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by mid-year, with budget offshoot Jetstar expected to be at full capacity.

“We’re now seeing really positive signs of a sustained recovery,” Mr Joyce said. “This is the longest run of relative stability we’ve had with domestic borders for over a year, and it’s reflected in the strong travel demand we saw over Easter and the forward bookings that are flowing.”

Virgin is equally optimistic, chief executive Jane Hrdlicka saying the airline should be running at 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels by the end of the financial year and reaching full capacity by year’s end.

Corporate air travel is proving the hardest to regenerate, sitting at about 65 per cent compared to pre-coronavirus.

On the road, those days last year when drivers felt they had the streets to themselves are a distant memory, with toll road operator Transurban confirming its average daily traffic activity across the country had all but reached 2019 levels during the March quarter.

Transurban said its best performing market was Sydney, with traffic back where it was in March 2019.

The return to the roads has come partially at the expense of a return to public transport, though patronage of buses, trains and trams are on a positive trajectory.

Public transport data in NSW drawn from Opal card use shows overall trips in March were 42 million, down from 60 million in February 2020 but well up from the state’s April 2020 low of just over 12 million.

Bus travel in NSW has built steadily from 5.5 million trips in April 2020 to 17 million last month, still down from the 25 million trips in February last year.

 

NSW Roads Minister Paul Toole said public transport cap­acity on city services would be increased to 75 per cent from Monday. Travellers would be able to sit next to each other, he said, but mask wearing was still strongly recommended.

“We’ve already started to see people returning to the network, and this announcement will give customers even more confidence to use our services in a COVID-safe way,” he said.

Victoria, which suffered through the nation’s toughest lockdown in the middle months of last year, is still on a journey to recharge its public transport system. The state’s Transport Department puts public transport usage across buses, trams and trains at about 57 per cent of pre-COVID levels.

Yet the trajectory has been relatively steep and constant since the state’s winter lockdown, which saw public transport use overall plummet to 9 per cent of pre-COVID levels in August.

Trams have been the most stubborn in terms of recovery, currently running at less than half the daily traffic they carried before the pandemic.

Buses are back to 70 per cent of their pre-COVID levels.

Grattan Institute transport and cities program director ­Marion Terrill said there was still some way to go before airlines could make the case that things were returning to normal.

“If you look at the mobile phone usage data at airports, at the start of this month it was around 32 per cent of pre-COVID levels in Sydney and Melbourne,” Ms Terrill said. “It’s climbing, but off a low base.”

She said public transport would be the most difficult ­element of the transport economy to bring back to full capacity.

“The biggest worry for government is that people may remain leery of public transport for fear of contagion. And they are getting more crowded.

“When people do change their habits, they often don’t go back.

“In this case, we are talking about the use of cars. State governments may be in some trouble if they sit back and allow peak ­period congestion to continue to rise,” she said.