Flight Path

In April 2020, Australia's airports handled 360,694 passenger movements. A year earlier they handled 13.7 million. Forty years of flying, from 33.4 million a year in 1985 to 164.3 million in 2019, and the spring the sky emptied.

Every month since 1985Passenger movements, all Australian airportsScheduled flights

JAN 2026

Domestic: –
International: –
All: –

A domestic passenger counts twice, once leaving and once arriving; an international one counts once. Dashed: months with less than 40% of the traffic of two years before.

Forty years of climbing: five times the traffic

In 1985, Australia's airports handled 33.4 million passenger movements. By 2019 it was 164.3 million, 4.9 times as many. Domestic flights still make up most of it, but international traffic grew faster, from 5.2 million to 42.5 million.

The climb had two stumbles. Domestic movements fell from 33.7 million in 1988 to 25.1 million in 1989, the year of the pilots' dispute, then recovered to 30.4 million in 1990. After Ansett collapsed in September 2001, total traffic slipped from 79.2 million in 2001 to 76.1 million in 2002.

Passenger movements a yearAll Australian airports1985–2025

In April 2020, airports handled 2.6% of the year before

Australia closed its border to non-residents on 20 March 2020. In April, the country's airports handled 360,694 passenger movements, against 13.7 million in April 2019. International movements, 3.5 million in April 2019, bottomed out at 42,149 in September 2021.

The border reopened to vaccinated visitors on 21 February 2022. It took until February 2024 for a month's traffic to match the same month of 2019. The dates line up, but a chart like this shows timing, not cause.

Passenger movements a monthAll Australian airportsJan 2019 – Jan 2026

Flight Path

Forty years of climbing: five times the traffic

In April 2020, airports handled 2.6% of the year before

Regional airports kept flying: Ballina kept 76% of its traffic, Sydney 25%

The comeback came from abroad