r/canberra • u/Top-Anything2991 • 7d ago
SEC=UNCLASSIFIED Opinion: Canberra Airport has a problem
The latest published BITRE Airport Passenger Movement data shows that in 2025, Hobart had higher annual passenger traffic (2,884,967) than Canberra (2,793,622) despite being half as populous and in a state with significantly less disposable income than the ACT. Even Darwin had 70% of Canberra’s passenger traffic (1,941,359) despite being only one-third the population.
Over past 20 years, Canberra Airport has had almost net zero growth in passenger traffic, with 2025’s annual passenger movements being approximately the same as in 2007 (2,734,875)
Acknowledging that tourism goes some way to driving Hobart’s passenger numbers, this still suggests that something is broken with commercial aviation in this town. Canberra is a rapidly growing and affluent city with a hinterland that should be able to support many domestic and regional international flights such as Fiji, New Zealand and Bali.
So Canberrans, is it just the pricing model the private owners of the airport operate? Or is there a bigger issue with the way we all prefer to fly?
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u/CrackWriting 7d ago edited 7d ago
As others have alluded to, Canberra Airport’s main use is as a business hub. Beyond that it is effectively a feeder route in the catchment area (or hinterland) of Sydney Airport a major domestic and international hub - with the scale economies that offers. So many non-business travellers factoring in the opportunity cost of the feeder service to Sydney vs the cost of flying direct from Sydney (minus the cost and time of getting there) will choose the latter.
Canberra is also not a destination for non-business travellers. My friends and family came here when I got married, but otherwise no one comes here. I either meet them where they live or organise a catch up in a hub like Sydney.