The Australian government has doubled down on its insistence that airlines can fill the middle seat after presenting new guidelines to passengers on Friday morning.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, has surprisingly reignited the state vs Federal Government border row by demanding all states open up, Australian Aviation can reveal.

However, the 62,000 travellers the terminals welcomed still represents a 97.2 per cent drop from the same month in 2019.

The commission will now look for “early signs of damage” that could “damage a competitor or drive them off route”.