Australian Aviation Awards will mark sector’s recovery

Whisper it, but last year was the year aviation in Australia finally, finally came back after years of pandemic chaos. In December, 6 million domestic seats across all major airlines were sold, hitting 95 per cent of 2019 levels. The ACCC even went as so far to effectively declare the crisis is over. “It appears reasonable to consider the recovery period over,” it said. “Various measures for the industry have stabilised, particularly over the past six to nine months, with movements appearing to represent seasonal factors more than an incremental return to pre-pandemic levels.”

It’s not just the numbers, too. Australia now has four different airlines operating domestically, with two challengers competing against Qantas and a rejuvenated Virgin operating shiny new aircraft. It’s news that’s encouraged us to open the submission process for our Australian Aviation Awards early, which will again culminate in a black-tie, gala dinner at The Star in Sydney on 29 August 2024.