Australia: International passenger figures jump 85% in two months

Australia’s international aviation sector continues to see signs of improvement after nearly 1.3m people travelled internationally in May, jumping 85% in just two months since March. According to new figures released by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE), international travel figures have continued to improve since the full reopening of Australia’s borders on 21 February. While numbers remain 59.6% short of the 3.2m passengers seen in May 2019, the number is still a significant increase from reports produced earlier this year. February’s figures saw roughly 430,000 scheduled international passengers while March saw a rise to just shy of 700,000. The total percentage of seat utilisation is also nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, with May 2022 seeing a seat utilisation percentage of 74.3%, which is only 4.3% short of the levels seen in May 2019.<br/>