Passengers
7,278,649
12 months to Jun 2026
Australia and New Zealand
8 cities · 26 city pairs with recent passenger traffic · 13 in the lost-route record · 11 with no post-2003 passenger record · data from Jan 1985
Inbound
3,609,579
arriving in Australia
Outbound
3,669,070
leaving Australia
Australian ports
14
represented in this record
Traffic: 12 months to Jun 2026
Passengers over time
To Jun 2026
International history milestones
Passenger milestones use complete calendar years only; a missing month stays missing and the partial current year cannot set the historical peak. Current breadth uses the global passenger window 2025-07 to 2026-06. Recorded Australian ports describe passenger records, not necessarily nonstop current services.
First positive record
Jan 1985
first month with passengers > 0
Peak complete year
2019
7,270,978 passengers
Latest complete year
2025
7,047,939 passengers
Australian ports in latest 12 months
9
positive in global latest 12 months; not necessarily nonstop
Peak port breadth
11
complete year: 2001
Cities in New Zealand
Airlines flying this route
Click any column heading to sort ⇅
| Airline | Passengers, 12 months | Share | Flying since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air New Zealand | 3,040,183 | 42% | Jan 1985 |
| Qantas Airways | 2,134,303 | 29% | Jan 1985 |
| Jetstar | 1,482,829 | 20% | Dec 2005 |
| Virgin Australia | 352,309 | 5% | Jan 2004 |
| Emirates | 153,898 | 2% | Aug 2003 |
| China Airlines | 53,066 | 1% | Mar 2000 |
| China Eastern Airlines | 32,174 | 0% | Nov 2023 |
| LATAM Airlines | 23,302 | 0% | Nov 1998 |
| Solomon Airlines | 6,098 | 0% | Feb 2025 |
| Qatar Airways | 487 | 0% | Aug 2020 |
12 months to Jun 2026
Shares are of passengers carried, not of seats or flights, and they cover every Australian airport. Airlines are reported against destinations rather than city pairs, so these figures cannot be broken down further by city.
Airlines that used to fly here
Carried passengers between Australia and New Zealand at some point since 1985, none in the 12 months to Jun 2026.
Showing the 20 largest of 23.
Recent passenger traffic
Positive passenger traffic appears within the latest year of the published BITRE series. This is record recency, not real-time operating status.
| Route | Passengers, 12 months |
|---|---|
| Sydney ↔ Auckland | 1,321,410 |
| Melbourne ↔ Auckland | 1,091,173 |
| Brisbane ↔ Auckland | 925,736 |
| Sydney ↔ Queenstown | 490,181 |
| Sydney ↔ Christchurch | 438,314 |
| Melbourne ↔ Christchurch | 381,242 |
| Gold Coast ↔ Auckland | 329,496 |
| Melbourne ↔ Queenstown | 282,311 |
| Perth ↔ Auckland | 267,707 |
| Brisbane ↔ Christchurch | 263,157 |
| Sydney ↔ Wellington | 255,238 |
| Melbourne ↔ Wellington | 204,870 |
| Brisbane ↔ Queenstown | 195,030 |
| Brisbane ↔ Wellington | 183,536 |
| Gold Coast ↔ Christchurch | 94,641 |
| Adelaide ↔ Auckland | 94,215 |
| Gold Coast ↔ Queenstown | 66,475 |
| Gold Coast ↔ Wellington | 61,319 |
| Sydney ↔ Hamilton | 60,788 |
| Sunshine Coast ↔ Auckland | 59,533 |
| Gold Coast ↔ Hamilton | 53,507 |
| Gold Coast ↔ Dunedin | 47,523 |
| Cairns ↔ Christchurch | 41,152 |
| Cairns ↔ Auckland | 34,536 |
| Hobart ↔ Auckland | 21,011 |
| Adelaide ↔ Christchurch | 14,548 |
Routes Australia has lost
No passenger traffic recorded in the comparable published series for over a year. See the lost-route record for the full methodology.
No post-2003 passenger record
These retained city pairs have no positive passenger record in the comparable series from January 2003 onward. Some have freight or mail records, and some appear only in the earlier passenger series.