Adelaide and Gold Coast Airports lead domestic route growth

By Andrew Curran.

Post-pandemic passenger growth across Australia’s domestic air routes is proving uneven, according to recent Australian Competition and Consumer Commission analysis. While passenger numbers on many major city pairs remain below 2019 levels, some routes are trending up, with Adelaide and Coolangatta/Gold Coast airports featuring prominently among the city pairs recording growth.

Earlier this week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released its latest quarterly report examining domestic airline competition in Australia.

It says Australia’s domestic airlines have responded to higher jet fuel prices by increasing airfares and reducing seat capacity on some routes.

“We’ve seen services paused or withdrawn on some routes,” said ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey.

However, in April 2026, ten city pairs surpassed their 2019 passenger numbers, with seven of those routes operating to or from Adelaide (ADL) or Coolangatta/Gold Coast (OOL).

As shown below, the ACCC measured passenger traffic on 22 domestic city pairs. Across 12 of those city pairs, including Australia’s three busiest, passenger traffic in April 2026 remained below April 2019 levels.

The 10 city pairs where April 2026 passenger numbers exceeded April 2019 levels were:

• Coolangatta/Gold Coast – Melbourne (MEL).
• Coolangatta/Gold Coast – Adelaide (ADL).
• Coolangatta/Gold Coast – Canberra (CBR).
• Coolangatta/Gold Coast – Avalon (AVV).
• Adelaide (ADL) – Sydney (SYD).
• Adelaide (ADL) – Brisbane (BNE).
• Adelaide (ADL) – Perth (PER).
• Perth (PER) – Sydney (SYD).
• Perth (PER) – Brisbane (BNE).
• Brisbane (BNE) – Canberra (CBR).

Four of the city pairs involve Coolangatta/Gold Coast at one end, while three involve Adelaide. While the ACCC did not highlight it, three of the city pairs also involve Brisbane.

What is notable is that Australia’s two largest airports, Sydney and Melbourne, did not feature heavily in the list. High-profile leisure destinations such as Cairns (CNS) and Maroochydore/Sunshine Coast (MCY) did not feature at all.

Drivers of airport growth

Adam Rowe, Chief of Aviation at Queensland Airports Limited, the operator of Coolangatta/Gold Coast Airport, told Aero South Pacific that the airport has experienced consistent growth in recent years, driven by a combination of increased capacity on key routes, network expansion and strong underlying demand within its catchment.

“In the past 12 months, we've welcomed several new routes and services across both domestic and international markets, including Hamilton and Dunedin in New Zealand, Bali, Western Sydney and Fiji,” he said.

“We've also seen our airline partners increase capacity on key domestic routes such as Sydney, which has benefited from more than 160,000 additional seats in the past 12 months, and Melbourne, with more than 73,000 additional seats,” Rowe added.

“That growth is being supported by broader demand factors across Gold Coast Airport's catchment, which is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, underpinned by continued diversification and growth of the local economy, which has only accelerated since the pandemic.

“The Gold Coast receives more net migration inflows from capital cities than anywhere else in Australia, which is influencing travel patterns and reshaping affluence, investment and expectations, driving demand for both business and leisure travel.”

In South Australia, 791,000 people passed through Adelaide Airport in April 2026, falling to 716,000 in May. However, the airport points out that total passenger numbers over the past 12 months have increased by 5.1% to 9.14 million.

“We had a record April for passenger numbers, including our busiest single week on record during the AFL Gather Round and the start of the school holidays,” an Adelaide Airport spokesperson told Aero South Pacific.

“A lot of this growth is attributable to an increase in leisure travel, with the strongest growth across services to the Gold Coast, Perth and Brisbane. This has been supported by airline capacity growth, such as Jetstar's capacity between Adelaide and the Gold Coast, which was up 83% in April this year compared with 2019.”

Growth on routes to second tier airports

The ACCC sourced its traffic data from the airlines. Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) data, covering the period to March 31, 2026, shows Adelaide was Australia’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger numbers during that month, while Coolangatta/Gold Coast was the sixth busiest. The latter was also Australia’s busiest non-capital city airport.

“As more people choose to live on the Gold Coast, air travel plays an increasingly important role in maintaining connections to other major cities, particularly along the east coast. At the same time, the Gold Coast continues to perform strongly as a tourism destination, supporting sustained inbound demand,” Rowe said.

The same BITRE data identifies Coolangatta/Gold Coast – Melbourne as Australia’s sixth-busiest domestic city pair in March 2026, carrying 2,205,400 passengers, compared with 2,064,200 passengers in March 2019, when it was Australia’s seventh-busiest domestic city pair.

The reasons behind the growth on some routes are fairly straightforward. The Coolangatta/Gold Coast – Canberra city pair received a significant boost in capacity when Jetstar launched flights on the route in 2022. The airline also increased services on the Coolangatta/Gold Coast – Avalon route during the second half of 2025.

Jetstar commands the largest market share among airlines serving Coolangatta/Gold Coast Airport.

Melbourne Airport the biggest loser

The biggest loser in terms of domestic route growth was Melbourne, home to Australia’s second-busiest airport.

The three busiest domestic city pairs involving Melbourne, namely  Melbourne - Sydney, Melbourne - Brisbane and Melbourne – Adelaide, all recorded declines in passenger numbers between April 2019 and April 2026. Passenger numbers on the Melbourne - Canberra city pair also fell, while Melbourne - Perth remained relatively stagnant.

In contrast, passenger traffic between Perth and Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney all grew. The decline in traffic on the so-called Brisbane – Sydney - Melbourne golden triangle has been canvassed before, but it defies a simple explanation.

The Reserve Bank of Australia notes that business travel is one of the first expenses to be cut when economic conditions tighten. The rise of video and tele conferencing has also reduced the need for business travel. However, one could ask why are similar declines not occurring on other business-heavy routes such as Sydney – Adelaide and the transcontinental services?

Domestic demand holds up despite economic belt tightening

In any case, domestic travel within Australia is skewed towards leisure and visiting friends and family (VFR) travellers. Approximately 75 – 80% of travellers fall into this category, according to the bank.

You might think this passenger cohort would be the most responsive to recent economic changes. But Brakey says, so far, Australian domestic travel has, so far, proved relatively resilient despite higher ticket prices and cost-of-living pressures.

Domestic airlines carried around five million passengers in both March and April 2026, while seat capacity increased by 1.9% in April compared with a year earlier.

“Demand has remained resilient over recent months,” the Commissioner said.

“With many travellers booking well in advance, particularly around holidays and major events, the latest data does not fully show the effect of higher airfares,” she added.

“We expect this to become clearer over the coming months.”

Photo: Aero South Pacific.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com