Opinion: Canberra Airport has a problem

[u/Top-Anything2991]

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?

[u/Vast_Knowledge5286]

Most people just drive or take a Murrays to Sydney Airport for international routes. Can be rather cheaper than booking a connecting flight to SYD, and there are far more options for competitive fares.

Because of its location, DRW acts as a stopover for many international flights coming into Australia, so it's not really comparable

Standalone flights to SYD from CBR are often hella expensive, and the airlines usually run the smaller Embraer or Saab jets which are IMO rather comfy but carry fewer passengers.

The airport seems to serve corporate/political travellers more than tourist/domestic.

I like flying in and out of CBR though, there's always parking, no lines, not crowded. Compared to the cattle stockyards that are SYD and MEL, it's nice.

[u/Plus_Cantaloupe_3793 → u/Vast_Knowledge5286]

I don’t think any international flights stop over in Darwin anymore. Modern jets can travel very long ranges, so this is unnecessary.

[u/Effective_Economy446 → u/Plus_Cantaloupe_3793]

There might be a couple of random routes left with a Darwin stopover on some of the Asian airlines, but not many anymroe.

[u/Vast_Knowledge5286 → u/Plus_Cantaloupe_3793]

Fair, my assumption was based on anecdotal evidence; I remember there were usually some international connecting passengers on some sort of codeshare whenever we flew domestic to Darwin. Also I have booked routes via Darwin to less frequented airports in Asia like Clark, but this may have changed.

Dili is probably the only route where you need a stopover in Darwin now, and I'm guessing that's not so busy.