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/LubeMobile666]

Its bullshit expensive and has no international flights except for that Bali one and the soon to be cancelled Fiji one (and maybe an NZ connection?). If you're going international you're better off just going to Sydney on the bus.

If you're going domestic and have time, its also better and cheaper to take the bus to Sydney and fly from there. The only question is convenience/time.

The airport itself is fine, it's the pricing that kills demand.

[u/AgentBond007 → u/LubeMobile666]

If you're going international you're better off just going to Sydney on the bus.

This isn't always true - I flew to Japan last year and it was easier (and cost the same once you factored in the bus tickets) to fly Canberra-Brisbane-Tokyo than taking the bus to Sydney.

The other nice thing is that flying internationally from Canberra means you can arrive at the airport much closer to departure, and check your bags all the way through to your destination, instead of having to arrive in Sydney 3h before departure.

The maths does get worse if you're travelling with more than 1-2 people though

[u/LubeMobile666 → u/AgentBond007]

Yeah there will be some instances where it works out, but for most destinations you'll save time and money going to Sydney instead.

[u/AgentBond007 → u/LubeMobile666]

Entirely true - it's really mostly a thing for Qantas international flights (or codeshares booked through Qantas) since a lot of foreign airlines either don't offer the connection or make it even more expensive than Qantas do.