Melbourne and Sydney are steadily getting back to pre-COVID levels but need airlines to add more capacity to fully recover.
Any comparisons between Australia's two major cities of Melbourne and Sydney usually provoke heated debate, whether it's about football, coffee, weather or the best airport. For decades Sydney was the primary gateway to Australia for air travelers, but over time, Melbourne has closed that gap, attracting new airlines and routes to boost passenger numbers.
As Australian aviation gathers momentum and surges toward pre-COVID capacity, it is time to see where these two vitally important airports are on their road to recovery. As seems to be the accepted way to make these comparisons, the starting point is their performance in pre-pandemic 2019.
While the airports and airlines like comparing to 2022, those 1000%+ growth rates have little relevance now that travel restrictions are gone, and international and domestic travel is virtually unhindered.
The real test is how they are doing today, albeit their fate is primarily in the hands of the airlines they serve and the seat capacity they elect to commit to each route. As both airports report monthly performance at different times, the most recent head-to-head comparison is from January this year.
In January 2023, Melbourne Airport (MEL) handled 2.7 million passengers, with 1.89 million domestic and 818,500 international travelers. In 2019, it processed 3.29 million, comprising 2.21 million domestic and 1.08 million international, putting its overall COVID recovery at 82%, with domestic at 86% and international at 75%.
Melbourne Airport has moved quickly in recent months to attract major Chinese carriers back, including China Southern, China Eastern, Air China and Capital Airlines. CEO Lorrie Argus said that most international flights are arriving "close to full," with international students, tourists and family visitors among the arrivals. She added:
"To have six mainland Chinese carriers resume flights to Melbourne in just a few weeks is a huge testament to the importance they place on our city and the confidence they have in our market."
Today an airport spokesperson told Simple Flying that "progress may look slow, but it's steady." This Sunday, China Southern Airlines is increasing Guangzhou flights to 10 weekly while China Eastern is going daily to Shanghai, operated by Shanghai Airlines with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. That's followed on Monday by Qantas resuming flights to Hong Kong and Tokyo and then resuming the service to Jakarta in April.
There is also much hoopla around the arrival of Vietnam's low-cost leader VietJet, which is launching its Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City route over the Easter weekend. There are also developments in the Australian domestic network with the launch of Bonza from its new base at Melbourne Airport.
This Friday, Bonza is operating its first flight from MEL, heading for its home base at the Sunshine Coast Airport, allowing Melbourne AvGeeks to see a Boeing 737 MAX 8 in Australian colors for the first time.
In passenger numbers, Sydney Airport (SYD) handled 3.12 million, comprising 1.89 million domestic and 1.23 million international travelers in January. For the same month in pre-pandemic 2019, the airport processed 3.96 million, with 2.29 domestic and 1.67 million international passengers. As those numbers show, Sydney has recovered to 79% of pre-COVID traffic, with domestic at 82% and international at 74% of 2019 levels.
Sydney has resumed listing the top ten nationalities passing through the airport each month traveling on international flights. Ranked by the number of passengers in January 2023, they were from Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, India, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Canada and Indonesia.
The closest to pre-COVID volume was the Philippines at 94%, followed by India at 89% and Australians at 84%. In January 2019, the top ten were Australia, China (including Hong Kong), New Zealand, USA, UK, India, South Korea, Japan, Germany and France.
Regarding the 2023 numbers, Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said that while passenger numbers had increased, the recovery is impacted by the lack of capacity on key overseas routes.
"In January, the number of US and UK travelers was still only at three quarters of what we saw pre-COVID, while the number of passengers from previously popular European countries like Germany and France was even lower."
So there it is, with Sydney at 79% of pre-pandemic numbers and Melbourne at 82%. For domestic services, Melbourne is at 86% compared to Sydney's 82% and for international routes, Melbourne is at 75% and Sydney has reached 74%. In January, Sydney handled 3.12 million passengers, while Melbourne handled 2.7 million.
However, both are frustrated at the lack of airline capacity holding back numbers, although that will improve shortly as the international airlines get their new or resumed services into top gear.
What are your experiences at SYD or MEL? Tell us about it in the comments.
Journalist – A professional aviation journalist writing across the industry spectrum. Michael uses his MBA and corporate business experience to go behind the obvious in search of the real story. A strong network of senior aviation contacts mixed with a boyhood passion for airplanes helps him share engaging content with fellow devotees. Based in Melbourne, Australia.