Most flights between Australia’s major cities are more than 90 percent full, the highest capacity rate in more than six years.
In releasing the latest Domestic Airline Competition Report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found passenger numbers were continuing to increase.
ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said Virgin Australia and Jetstar reported strong passenger demand growth throughout most of 2024, which continued into the Christmas period.
Commissioner Brakey said, compared to December 2023, the number of domestic passengers flown by Virgin Australia in December 2024 increased by 15.8 percent, while Jetstar’s passengers grew by 11.2 percent.
She said the number of passengers flown by Qantas increased by 3.2 percent over the same period.
“Despite some airlines increasing their seating capacity throughout the year, this was outstripped by the growth in passenger numbers, leading to fuller flights.”
Commissioner Brakey said in November 2024, flights on services between metropolitan cities were 90.4 percent full.
“This was the highest rate recorded since at least January 2019, the earliest month for which the ACCC has data.
“While we recognise that delivery delays for new aircraft have presented significant challenges, we encourage all airlines to find other ways to increase their seating capacity to cater to the growing passenger demand.”
Commissioner Brakey said the industry cancellation rate improved in December 2024, when 1.8 percent of flights were cancelled.
She said this was the third time in four months that the cancellation rate was better than the long-term average of 2.2 percent.
“The improved cancellation rate was primarily associated with Virgin Australia, which cancelled just 0.6 percent of flights in December 2024. Qantas had the highest cancellation rate in December 2024, at 2.7 percent.”
Commissioner Brakey said Rex had the most reliable on-time performance in December 2024, when 75.9 percent of its flights arrived on time, while Jetstar reported the worst on-time performance with 73.3 percent of flights arriving on time.
