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Highlights
According to BITRE’s report, 44 international airlines operated scheduled services to/from Australia during the month.
Passenger traffic increased 199.7% in June 2021, against 64, 835 in June 2020.
In terms of passenger carriage, Air New Zealand had the largest share of the market in June 2021 with 47%.
Even as the international borders remained closed for passengers for the last many months, a few airlines flew in and out of Australia, benefitting from quarantine-free travel corridors and specially organised repatriation flights.
More airlines are expected to gradually restart operations around the national cabinet’s phased reopening of international borders.
Earlier today, Qantas Group – Australia’s largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations – informed the ASX that it would start full-fledged international flights from December 2021, based on the pace of coronavirus vaccine rollout. However, the plan remains dependent on the government’s decisions in the coming months, including future quarantine requirements, it added.
Meanwhile, in its latest report on international airline activity in June 2021, Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) shared the data on the share of passengers carried and share of freight carrier. It listed the 10 biggest international airline operators in Australia in June.
Source: © Fedor-o | Megapixl.com
Key points
According to BITRE’s report, 44 international airlines operated scheduled services to/from Australia during the month. The number includes four dedicated freight airlines but excludes airlines operating only via code share arrangements.
- International scheduled passenger traffic in June 2021 was 194,290 compared to 3.329 million in June 2019, a fall of 94.2%.
- Despite aviation services witnessing challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic-induced restrictions, the passenger traffic has increased 199.7%, against 64,835 in June 2020.
- Passenger traffic for the year ended June 2021 was down 96.3% to 1,122,915, which is a 96.3% compared to the year ended June 2020.
- The overall seat utilisation percentage fell from 80.7% in June 2019 to 26.3% in June 2020 and rose marginally to 26.4% in June 2021
- In terms of passenger carriage, Air New Zealand had the largest share of the market in June 2021 with 47%.
- Air New Zealand was followed by Qantas Airways with 21.8%, Singapore Airlines with 6.5%, Jetstar with 5.5% and Qatar Airways with 4.6%.
Image source: BITRE, June 2021 data
Source: © cefields | Megapixl.com
The Bottom Line
Qantas mentioned in its exchange filing that it had the plans to bring back international flights once 80% of the Australian population was fully vaccinated. The airline expected the same to happen by December 2021.
Thus, airlines’ planes would be closely aligned with how the vaccination drive shapes up going forward. For Qantas, the first routes post opening of international borders would be the countries with high vaccination rates such as the US, Canada, the UK, Singapore, Japan, and New Zealand.
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