There were over two million international passengers during June according to a new report from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), continuing a recent growing trend in international travel.
Compared to June 2009, the number of international passengers passing through Australian airports increased by 14.3 per cent, as available seats increased by 8.8 per cent. Consequently, seat utilisation was also higher at 74.8 per cent, compared to 71.4 per cent during the previous June. Overall, for the year ending June 30, there was a 9.1 per cent increase in international passenger traffic, with over 25.620 million passengers carried during the financial year.
Australian carriers saw a slight decrease in their market shares, with Qantas’s share of the market falling from 21.7 per cent to 19.6 per cent, Jetstar down 0.2 percentage points to 7.8 per cent, while Pacific Blue was steady at 5.9 per cent. The data also showed that low cost carriers have continued to increase their market share as they collectively accounted for 18.5 per cent of total international traffic, an increase of 1.7 percentage points.
