Passenger movements
3,267,469
May 2026
Sydney Airport
SYD · 26 monitored domestic routes · data from Jan 1985
International share
39%
1,260,732 movements
Aircraft movements
23,402
landings and take-offs
vs 2019
94.9%
of pre-pandemic average
Airport traffic: to May 2026
Sydney handled 3,267,469 passenger movements in May 2026, the 1st busiest of the 22 monitored airports. International services account for 39% of its traffic. Traffic has returned to roughly its 2019 level. Across its 18 monitored routes, 2.7% of flights were cancelled — above the national average.
A passenger movement is not the same as a passenger. Every domestic passenger is counted twice — once departing, once arriving — while an international passenger is counted once. That is the official definition, and it is why these totals cannot be added to the route figures elsewhere on this site.
Passenger movements, 1985 to 2026
To May 2026 · Marks show industry events
Aircraft movements
To May 2026
Annual passenger history
Observed calendar-year passenger movements from 1985 to 2025; missing airport-year values remain gaps. This is passenger movements, not route passengers.
Latest observation: 42,566,527 movements in 2025. The blue marker is latest; orange marks the historical peak.
National rank by year
Lower rank is higher on the chart. Each year uses only airports with a valid value that year; the denominator can change.
Latest national rank
#1 of 100
in 2025
Then & now
+33,416,373
+365.2%
Historical peak
44,429,758
2018 · #1 of 95
From 1985 to 2025, annual passenger movements increased by 33,416,373 (+365.2%). The national rank moved from #1 of 91 to #1 of 100.
Show all annual observations
| Year | Passenger movements | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 9,150,154 | #1 of 91 |
| 1986 | 9,899,551 | #1 of 91 |
| 1987 | 10,833,025 | #1 of 92 |
| 1988 | 12,254,388 | #1 of 82 |
| 1989 | 10,156,956 | #1 of 81 |
| 1990 | 11,795,236 | #1 of 85 |
| 1991 | 14,085,635 | #1 of 90 |
| 1992 | 14,958,288 | #1 of 89 |
| 1993 | 15,867,408 | #1 of 92 |
| 1994 | 17,701,590 | #1 of 92 |
| 1995 | 19,052,003 | #1 of 90 |
| 1996 | 20,379,424 | #1 of 92 |
| 1997 | 20,910,830 | #1 of 94 |
| 1998 | 21,208,628 | #1 of 94 |
| 1999 | 22,266,054 | #1 of 94 |
| 2000 | 24,477,533 | #1 of 94 |
| 2001 | 24,792,269 | #1 of 94 |
| 2002 | 23,194,683 | #1 of 92 |
| 2003 | 24,478,163 | #1 of 93 |
| 2004 | 27,198,074 | #1 of 94 |
| 2005 | 28,456,150 | #1 of 93 |
| 2006 | 29,984,970 | #1 of 93 |
| 2007 | 31,847,295 | #1 of 92 |
| 2008 | 32,898,805 | #1 of 94 |
| 2009 | 32,998,042 | #1 of 93 |
| 2010 | 35,650,341 | #1 of 94 |
| 2011 | 35,673,933 | #1 of 95 |
| 2012 | 37,008,070 | #1 of 95 |
| 2013 | 38,150,546 | #1 of 95 |
| 2014 | 38,732,942 | #1 of 96 |
| 2015 | 39,808,847 | #1 of 96 |
| 2016 | 42,017,921 | #1 of 95 |
| 2017 | 43,330,060 | #1 of 96 |
| 2018 | 44,429,758 | #1 of 95 |
| 2019 | 44,428,845 | #1 of 97 |
| 2020 | 11,227,692 | #1 of 98 |
| 2021 | 7,901,288 | #1 of 99 |
| 2022 | 29,056,221 | #1 of 100 |
| 2023 | 38,717,773 | #1 of 99 |
| 2024 | 41,460,533 | #1 of 100 |
| 2025 | 42,566,527 | #1 of 100 |
National rank is calculated independently for each year using standard competition ranking. Equal passenger totals share a rank; the denominator is the count of airports with a valid value in that year. No missing value is interpolated or treated as zero, and the data alone does not identify reasons for traffic changes.
Busiest routes from Sydney
| Route | Passengers | Month |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney ↔ Melbourne | 665,376 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Brisbane | 384,454 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Gold Coast | 226,908 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Adelaide | 162,765 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Perth | 145,762 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Cairns | 96,824 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Sunshine Coast | 73,377 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Hobart | 64,491 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Canberra | 44,596 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Ballina | 40,380 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Launceston | 30,380 | Jul 2026 |
| Sydney ↔ Hamilton Island | 19,827 | Jul 2026 |
Route passengers are a different measure from airport movements above — one trip, not two.
Punctuality on Sydney routes
Across all 18 monitored routes touching this airport, 2.7% of scheduled flights were cancelled over the 12 months to Aug 2026 — against a national average of 2.0%.
| Route | Cancelled | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney ↔ Orange | 5.7% | 74.5% | 436 |
| Sydney ↔ Canberra | 5.0% | 80.4% | 14,543 |
| Sydney ↔ Port Macquarie | 4.4% | 73.3% | 4,117 |
| Sydney ↔ Dubbo | 3.9% | 72.6% | 4,941 |
| Sydney ↔ Melbourne | 3.8% | 77.8% | 49,873 |
| Sydney ↔ Coffs Harbour | 2.7% | 71.8% | 4,520 |
| Sydney ↔ Brisbane | 2.4% | 77.2% | 28,704 |
| Sydney ↔ Adelaide | 2.3% | 78.6% | 13,538 |
| Sydney ↔ Wagga Wagga | 1.9% | 76.5% | 4,424 |
| Sydney ↔ Albury | 1.9% | 75.7% | 3,948 |
| Sydney ↔ Hobart | 1.6% | 76.5% | 5,755 |
| Sydney ↔ Ballina | 1.4% | 80.1% | 3,763 |
| Sydney ↔ Launceston | 1.2% | 72.6% | 2,567 |
| Sydney ↔ Perth | 1.2% | 74.3% | 10,637 |
| Sydney ↔ Gold Coast | 1.0% | 77.4% | 16,397 |
| Sydney ↔ Sunshine Coast | 1.0% | 74.1% | 5,519 |
| Sydney ↔ Cairns | 0.9% | 79.0% | 5,540 |
| Sydney ↔ Hamilton Island | 0.7% | 67.3% | 1,510 |
Punctuality: 12 months to Aug 2026
Sydney in numbers
| Busiest month on record | 3,968,275 · Oct 2019 |
| National ranking, 2025 | #1 of 100 |
| Busiest year on record | 44,429,758 · 2018 |
| Data coverage | Jan 1985 – May 2026 (497 months) |
| Domestic share, May 2026 | 61.4% |
| 2019 monthly average | 3,702,404 |