Air passenger traffic up at Australia’s Sydney, Perth

Australia's Perth airport logged its highest ever passenger numbers in the 2023-24 fiscal year to 30 June, breaking a record set in 2013-14, while Sydney remained behind pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels.

About 16.1mn passengers used Perth airport topping the previous 14.9mn high a decade earlier. Perth's regional passenger numbers for 2023-24 edged over 6mn, outstripping interstate passengers of 5.7mn and international at 4.3mn, likely showing an increase in mining and resources activity in the state's minerals and gas provinces. Fly-in, fly-out passengers comprise a major part of Perth's total because of the remote location of many of the state's resources projects.

Sydney airport, Australia's largest, reported 9.74mn passengers for April-June, led by increased international traffic and representing a 94pc recovery rate on international passengers recorded in pre-pandemic April-June 2019. Sydney's passenger numbers for this year's first half remained 7pc below 2019 but 10pc higher than the same time last year.

Australia's second-largest airport Melbourne reported 35.13mn passengers for 2023-24.

Australian jet fuel sales averaged 158,000 b/d for January-May, behind the 161,000 b/d in 2019 but 8pc above 2023's average of 146,000 b/d, according to Australian Petroleum Statistics. Imports were also up by 11pc on a year earlier for the same period.

By Tom Major