A new report from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) shows that international passenger traffic growth in April slowed compared to previous months, but remained robust.
For the month, passenger traffic increased by 4.2 per cent to 2.059 million passengers, making it the first month since September 2009 to record growth under nine per cent. Available seats increased by 6.2 per cent compared to the same time last year as the number of flights increased by 6.8 per cent. Overall seat utilisation percentage has decreased from 74.8 per cent in April 2009 to 73.2 per cent.
Qantas remained the largest international carrier, accounting for 19.8 per cent of international passengers, representing a decline of 2.6 percentage points, while Jetstar’s marketshare increased from 6.9 to 8.1 per cent. Overall, Australian designated carriers maintained a strong position as they accounted for 33 per cent of traffic during the month, which was down 0.1 percentage points. As in previous months, low cost carriers have increased their marketshare by 3.2 percentage points to 18.3 per cent.
