Australia’s four largest airports recorded a combined revenue of $2.6bn during 2023-24, up 24.3% on the previous 12-month period.
A new “Airport Monitoring Report” published by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), highlighted that despite this growth in revenues across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports, they collectively handled fewer passengers than before the pandemic.
While domestic and international passengers grew by 13.7% to 114.6 million since 2022-23, passenger numbers remained 4.7% below 2018-19 levels.
“The increase in aeronautical revenues in 2023-24 was driven in large part by the continued recovery in international passenger numbers, which rose by 32.1% at the four airports monitored in our report,” said Anna Brakey, ACCC commissioner.
Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne airports also saw large increases in operating profits. “Sydney Airport was once again clearly the most profitable of the four major airports for aeronautical services in 2023-24, both in aggregate and on a per-passenger basis,” said Brakey.
The commission noted Perth Airport was the only one to report a fall in profits, down by 29.1% to $70.7 million after a significant increase in security and depreciation expenses.
In addition to performance, the ACCC noted that these airports have invested $985.1 million into facilities during the 2023-24 period, a figure it noted will increase in coming years.
Other major projects underway, or recently announced, include new runways for Melbourne and Perth, new terminals for Perth and Brisbane, upgrades to terminals in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.