AUSTRALIA| Domestic airline competition has remained strong in the Australian market, especially across the busy Christmas and New Year period.
Virgin Australia and Jetstar reported strong passenger demand growth throughout most of 2024, which continued into the Christmas period, the ACCC’s latest Domestic Airline Competition report has found.
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. 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,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
The report found that flights were fuller than they have been for some time. In November 2024, flights on services between metropolitan cities were 90.4 per cent 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.”
The industry cancellation rate improved in December 2024, when 1.8 percent of flights were cancelled. This was the third time in four months that the cancellation rate was better than the long-term average (2.2 percent).
The improved cancellation rate is 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.
“Flight cancellations have been a real concern for passengers since the pandemic, so it is pleasing to see the improved performance in recent months by some airlines,” Brakey added.
“Virgin Australia, in particular, has reduced the frequency of cancellations across its network.”
While travellers experienced fewer cancellations, they continued to face flight delays, with the on-time arrival rate across all airlines being 74.7 percent in December 2024.
Rex had the most reliable on-time performance in December 2024, when 75.9 percent of its flights arrived on time. Jetstar reported the worst on-time performance with 73.3 percent of flights arriving on time.
Average airfares across all fare types stabilised in December 2024 and were 3.0 percent lower than what they were in December 2023. The fall in average revenue per passenger in December was more pronounced on major city routes (-4.4 percent) than regional (-0.4 percent) and remote (-2.3 percent) routes.
“Travellers had some relief from high airfares in December, after school holidays and other factors pushed up the average price of domestic travel in October and November,” Brakey said.
“The reduction in airfares is likely to have primarily benefitted business travellers, as high demand for leisure travel over the Christmas period often leads to a spike in the price of ‘best discount’ tickets.”
More news here.
