Passenger movements
116,962
in 2025
Thursday Island Airport
HID · yearly totals, 1985–2025
Busiest airports
#43 of 100
national rank in 2025
Aircraft movements
8,345
landings and take-offs
vs 2019
120.6%
of the pre-pandemic year
Airport traffic: 2025
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.
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: 116,962 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
#43 of 100
in 2025
Then & now
+104,777
+859.89%
Historical peak
117,188
2024 · #43 of 100
From 1985 to 2025, annual passenger movements increased by 104,777 (+859.89%). The national rank moved from #66 of 91 to #43 of 100.
Show all annual observations
| Year | Passenger movements | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 12,185 | #66 of 91 |
| 1986 | 16,650 | #61 of 91 |
| 1987 | 17,834 | #62 of 92 |
| 1988 | 26,305 | #58 of 82 |
| 1989 | 23,447 | #54 of 81 |
| 1990 | 16,608 | #62 of 85 |
| 1991 | 41,407 | #49 of 90 |
| 1992 | 51,569 | #45 of 89 |
| 1993 | 38,555 | #49 of 92 |
| 1994 | 34,655 | #54 of 92 |
| 1995 | 34,193 | #55 of 90 |
| 1996 | 36,491 | #52 of 92 |
| 1997 | 41,997 | #49 of 94 |
| 1998 | 44,100 | #49 of 94 |
| 1999 | 46,350 | #48 of 94 |
| 2000 | 46,852 | #47 of 94 |
| 2001 | 44,629 | #46 of 94 |
| 2002 | 44,813 | #47 of 92 |
| 2003 | 45,616 | #47 of 93 |
| 2004 | 47,595 | #51 of 94 |
| 2005 | 48,516 | #53 of 93 |
| 2006 | 52,688 | #54 of 93 |
| 2007 | 60,113 | #54 of 92 |
| 2008 | 65,938 | #51 of 94 |
| 2009 | 60,616 | #51 of 93 |
| 2010 | 61,497 | #52 of 94 |
| 2011 | 84,205 | #47 of 95 |
| 2012 | 94,638 | #47 of 95 |
| 2013 | 92,273 | #47 of 95 |
| 2014 | 86,275 | #47 of 96 |
| 2015 | 90,328 | #46 of 96 |
| 2016 | 96,561 | #46 of 95 |
| 2017 | 98,585 | #46 of 96 |
| 2018 | 100,743 | #46 of 95 |
| 2019 | 96,996 | #46 of 97 |
| 2020 | 59,844 | #38 of 98 |
| 2021 | 93,301 | #33 of 99 |
| 2022 | 95,957 | #45 of 100 |
| 2023 | 106,965 | #44 of 99 |
| 2024 | 117,188 | #43 of 100 |
| 2025 | 116,962 | #43 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.
Aircraft movements
Calendar years to 2025
Thursday Island in numbers
| Historical peak | 117,188 · 2024 · #43 of 100 |
| Years of data | 1985 – 2025 |
| 2019 total | 96,996 |
| National ranking, 2025 | #43 of 100 |
Monthly figures, route detail and punctuality are published for Australia's twenty busiest airports — you can find those on the airports index.