More than 30 million people passed through Melbourne Airport in the 12 months to June 2023, as demand for air travel continues its trajectory towards pre-pandemic levels.
A total of 30,783,366 people used the airport’s four terminals in the 2023 financial year, including more than 22.5 million domestic passengers and almost 8.3 million international travellers.
The overall figure represents a 138 per cent increase on the previous financial year, and 82 per cent of the 37.4 million passengers processed in the 2019 financial year.
Melbourne Airport handled a total of 19,038 passenger and cargo flight movements in June, surpassing the corresponding 2019 monthly figure for the first time, with international and domestic traveller numbers both exceeding 90 per cent of the 2019 monthly number.
Families heading off on school holidays helped set a new post-pandemic high for international travel, with 825,480 passengers in June, which represents 91 per cent of the 2019 figure.
Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus said the recovery of international travel was particularly pleasing.
“We have worked very hard alongside the Victorian State Government to ensure Melbourne is front of mind for airlines as they return aircraft to service and add new planes to their fleet,” she said.
“Some of the world’s biggest airlines such as United Airlines, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines are now flying more seats into Melbourne than they were before the pandemic.
“Capacity to key markets such as India and Vietnam is also much higher than in 2019, which means more options for passengers and local exporters; all of which is good news for Victoria’s economy.
“Melbourne Airport continues to plan for infrastructure such as our third runway to ensure we have room to enable further growth and keep Victorians and Victorian produce moving.”
