More than 651,200 passengers passed through Queensland Airports Limited’s (QAL) four airports in
March 2019.
This represents a 7.6 per cent downturn for the group, with fewer passengers at Gol d Coast, Townsville.
Mount Isa and Longreach airports reflective of a declining trend in passenger numbers across Australia
and ongoing capacity constraints by the airlines.
A summary of March’s results is provided in the table below.
QAL CEO Chris Mills said lower passenger numbers a t Gold Coast Airport were a result of reduced flights
and seating capacity offered by the airlines, but aircraft loads remained the highest in the country.
“The average load of aircraf t using Gold Coast Airport increas ed to 84.2 per cent during March – the
highest in the country,” he said.
“In fact, our two busiest routes in Gold Coast -Sydney and Gold Coast-Melbourne continue to record the
highest loads of any route in Australia, showing passenger demand for the destination remains strong.”
Latest figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics ( for February 2019).
show t he Gold Coast -Sydney route recorded the highest load factor of any route in Australia during
February, with a 90.5 per cent load average. The Gold Coast -Melbourne route came in second with a
load factor of 88.2 per cent.
Mr Mills said the downward trend in passenger numbers at the company’s four airports was reflective of
a slide in domestic passengers across Australia.
March 201 9 results
201 9 201 8 Change
Gold Coast 501,907 542,569 -7.5%
Townsville 129,725 141,703 -8.5%
Mount Isa 17,106 17,428 -1.8%
Longreach 2,474 2,834 -12.7%
Total passengers 651,212 704,545 -7.6%
“The number of passengers flying domestically has dipped across Australia in the past t hree months, ” he
said.
“Latest figures released by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) show
passenger numbers fell 0.7 per cent in February 2019 – the third consecutive monthly decrease. We
haven’t seen a d ecline like this since October 2015. ”
