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Aeronautical revenues have reached record highs at Australia’s four major airports as passenger satisfaction remains solid.
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth Airports collectively brought in $2.6 billion in 2023–24, up 24.3 per cent from the previous year, though passenger numbers were still 4.7 per cent below 2018–19 levels. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane also grew their profits from aeronautical activities.
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According to the ACCC’s latest Airport Monitoring Report, domestic and international passengers at the big four airports grew by 13.7 per cent to a total of 114.6 million since 2022–23.
“The increase in aeronautical revenues in 2023–24 was driven in large part by the continued recovery in international passenger numbers, which rose by 32.1 per cent at the four airports monitored in our report. Domestic passenger numbers also grew by 6.7 per cent,” ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said.
Sydney posted an aeronautical operating profit of $570.5 million for the year, though this was in part inflated by back payments from airlines, while Melbourne saw a profit of $198.9 million and Brisbane a profit of $194.7 million.
Perth Airport saw a fall in aeronautical profits to $70.7 million due to increased security expenses as well as depreciation.
“Sydney Airport was once again clearly the most profitable of the four major airports for aeronautical services in 2023–24, both in aggregate and on a per-passenger basis,” Brakey said.
Passengers rated all four airports solidly for quality of service, though they were ranked only “satisfactory” by airlines due to concerns including aircraft parking facilities, baggage facilities, common user check-in facilities, aerobridges and public amenities, Brakey added.
“The airports all maintained their ‘good’ rating for quality of service, which is based on surveys of passengers and airlines, as well as objective measures such as the number of check-in kiosks per passenger,” she said.
“However, the falling satisfaction from airlines indicates the airports have some work to do.”
Simon Westaway, chief executive of the Australian Airports Association (AAA), said the peak body was pleased with the survey result, especially in light of what he called a “strong rebound” in post-pandemic passenger traffic.
“Australia’s big four airports have maintained this high quality of service rating since the 2018 financial year, while passenger-specific surveys have kept in the same category for more than a decade,” Westaway said.
“With Australian air passenger numbers close to pre-COVID levels, this has boosted the financial performance of airports after recent years of significant revenue loss due to the pandemic and border closures.”
