AUSTRALIA | High demand for domestic air travel in spring has led to higher airfares, according to the latest Domestic Airline Competition report.
Very high demand for domestic air travel in September and October 2025 put additional pressure on seating capacity, and led to higher airfares for travellers in October, the ACCC’s latest Domestic Airline Competition report has found.
Domestic airlines carried over 5.5 million domestic passengers in October 2025. This was 3.8 percent higher than October 2024 and was the second-highest passenger numbers recorded for any month since January 2019, the earliest month for which the ACCC has monitoring data on the domestic airline industry.
“While September and October are typically very busy months for domestic air travel, both the AFL and NRL featured interstate teams in their finals this year, which led to additional demand for travel to Melbourne and Sydney,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
Combined, the Qantas Group and Virgin Australia reportedly added over 45 additional flights to their networks to service the high demand in late September and early October. These additional flights contributed to overall seating capacity for domestic routes increasing in October 2025 by 4.5 percent compared to October 2024.
Despite this increase to seating capacity, the high demand for domestic travel meant that flights were still fuller than normal. In October 2025, 84.4 percent of available seats on flights were filled by passengers, compared to the 12-month average of 81.6 percent. This contributed to average airfares in October 2025 being higher than any month since December 2022 and 3.2 percent higher than they were in October 2024.
“Airfares are typically elevated during peak demand periods, but the higher passenger levels in October 2025 placed additional pressure on seat capacity, which pushed up airfares for consumers,” Brakey said.
The on-time performance for domestic flights declined in October 2025 due in part to adverse weather events such as cross-winds in Sydney. Only 74.1 percent of flights arrived on time, compared to the long-term industry average of 80.6 per cent.
The industry cancellation rate was 2.1 percent, which was consistent with the long-term average of 2.2 percent.
“We expect the airlines to improve their service reliability across all routes to give consumers a better experience when they travel.”
More news here.
