Monthly Passenger Update - October 2023

The monthly passenger report for October 2023 has been released. 

Domestic October result:

• 95% of FY19 pre-COVID levels as BNE saw an average of 48,272 domestic passengers per day in October 2023, compared to last month 49,217 (-2%) in September 2023 and 50,994 (-5%) in October 2018 (pre-COVID FY19).
• This was a relatively strong result with the demand strong in early October with the end of the school holidays, the public holiday weekend, plus both the AFL and NRL grand final where Brisbane teams made it to both the AFL and NRL Grand finals.
• There were fourteen (14) days exceeding 50,000 passengers, with the strongest day on Monday 2 October with 59,862 passengers, which was the 2nd busiest day in the post pandemic recovery, behind the post-COVID record of 61,061 passengers on Friday 29 September 2023 (only 3 days earlier).
• The top 5 markets that are limiting recovery with passenger numbers well below pre-COVID volumes are (in order of passengers vs October 2018): Sydney (-11%), Melbourne (-9%), Townsville (-13%), Newcastle (-13%), and Canberra (-8%). Notable markets that are doing well with passenger volumes above pre-COVID volumes (in order of passengers vs October 2018) are Moranbah (+58%), Hamilton Island (+56%), Perth (+5%), Albury (did not operate pre-COVID), and Proserpine (+8%).

International October result:

• Passenger restoration against pre-COVID levels was 80%, exceeding capacity restoration at 76%.
• BNE saw an average of 13,952 international passengers per day in October 2023, which was an decrease of 4% per day compared to last month in line with normal seasonality (September 2023 average was 14,515 passengers per day), and a decrease of 20% vs pre-COVID (October 2018 average was 17,357 passengers per day).
• The load factor for October 2023 was at 80.8% which was 4.8pts above the 76.0% pre-COVID (October 2018).
• There were four (4) days exceeding 15,000 passengers, with the biggest day of 15,940 passengers on Mon 30 October (the start of the new airline scheduling season), which is the 4th busiest day in the post-COVID recovery.
• A key driver of success remains the demand for Singapore Airline’s three (3) triple-daily services to Singapore which continues to be full with a strong load factors. Demand was also strong relative to the limited capacity available on Malindo/Batik, Qatar, and Jetstar.