Green shoots for aviation despite Iran war, says Airservices

“Passenger flights across all industry segments reached a three-month high recovering from the initial contraction in response to the Middle East conflict, supported primarily by July school holiday travel demand across domestic coastal destinations and international services to Southeast Asia and New Zealand,” the report read.

“Network activity peaked at more than 2,600 daily passenger flights, matching the highest operating levels recorded last July.

“While these developments are welcome, it should be noted that the inherent fragility of the geostrategic environment means that factors such as commodity price shocks, inflationary pressures, and cost of living concerns can manifest quickly, dampening consumer confidence and limiting discretionary spending.

“Elevated fuel costs, persistent inflationary pressures and subdued productivity growth continue to weigh on operating conditions and forecast outlook for our sector.”

According to the report, international growth is driven by “strong demand in Southeast Asia and New Zealand alongside a shift in long-haul traffic through alternative Asian hubs and expansion of direct services (e.g. from Brisbane and Adelaide) to destinations such as the United States”.

“The increasing use of newer-generation aircraft is supporting these trends by enabling more direct and efficient connectivity,” Airservices said.

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“In contrast, recovery in Middle East services remains at around 75 per cent of last year’s levels constrained by ongoing regional uncertainty.”

Airservices also noted concerns about its own performance, saying July had been “a disappointing month with an increase in service variations and activation of GDP on three occasions due to Airservices constraints at Sydney Airport with flow-on network impact”.

“We acknowledge that we still have work to do to strengthen service resilience, particularly in Sydney. We are committed to improving the consistency of our performance while maintaining the pace of improvement across the national network,” the report read.

“It is likewise critical to assure our partners and the travelling public that safety is not compromised when issues with staffing levels occur, and safety remains our overriding priority.

“We are committed to working collaboratively with industry on strengthening the resilience of the aviation sector, investing in new and innovative technologies to enhance service efficiency and reliability, and building the foundations for future passenger, freight and aviation growth.”

Airservices says it currently has around 120 trainees in its pipeline, and is recruiting at its highest ever rates.