Jake Nelson

December 2023 saw 6 million domestic seats across all major airlines, about 95 per cent of 2019 levels. Around 4.8 million people flew domestically in December 2023, 94 per cent of December 2019 figures, and rates generally stayed at about 90 to 95 per cent of pre-pandemic figures throughout 2023.

The STEM Career Pathways report has found women are more likely to be on fixed-term contracts than men, and less likely to be in full-time work: only 58 per cent of women surveyed were on permanent full-time contracts, compared to 78 per cent of men.

In its first domestic airline competition report since it resumed monitoring the sector, the ACCC said average revenue per passenger incorporating all fare types was 13.4 per cent lower in December 2023 than in December 2022, when adjusted for inflation.

January marked one year since the resumption of flights between mainland China and Melbourne, and saw more than 3,136,944 people pass through the airport, up 16 per cent on January last year. More than six million people have transited Melbourne Airport over the December–January peak.

The overhaul is not expected to cause any disruption to ATC services, and will involve life extension on the tower’s infrastructure as well as upgrading internal facilities into a “modern workspace”, Airservices says.

A report by Scyne Advisory for Airservices Australia predicts that drone flights will increase by an average of 20 per cent per year for the next 20 years. Australia saw around 1.5 million drone flights in 2023.