Melbourne Airport handled 2.71 million passengers in March 2023, reaching almost 88% of the pre-pandemic capacity. The airline had handled almost 3.09 million passengers in March 2019. In March 2023, the airport carried 721,000 international passengers as compared to just 205,711 in March 2022.
Melbourne's March international traffic was boosted by the return of Cebu Pacific services to Manila, an increase in flights to Mainland China, Emirates third daily to Dubai via Singapore and Qantas launching services to Tokyo Haneda. The terminal now hosts 31 overseas-based carriers and international services operated by Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia.
Chinese airlines like Air China, Beijing Capital, China Eastern, China Southern, Sichuan Airlines, and Xiamen Air are back running scheduled services while other important carriers like Air India, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Fiji Airways and Thai Airways have also returned to Melbourne.
In March, there were 1.99 million domestic passengers through the airport compared to 2.2 million in 2019, a recovery of 90% to pre-pandemic levels. This is 31% more than March 2022 and a 20% increase over the February 2023 traffic, indicating how quickly capacity and passengers are returning through Melbourne Airport. Bonza has opened its second base at Melbourne and will be operating to nine destinations from the airport by early next month.
Between July 2022 and March 2023, Melbourne Airport has seen 22.8 million passengers pass through its doors, with 5.9 million traveling internationally and 16.9 on domestic services. In the same 2021/22 period, there were 6.25 million passengers, with 769,000 internationals and 5.48 on domestic flights. In 2019 the numbers were 28.5 million, 8.7 million and 19.8 million, respectively.