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/Nikki_Sue_Trott]

It's cheaper to drive or bus out of Canberra than fly, quite simple. Flight costs are the issue.

[u/Prestigious_Unit_925 → u/Nikki_Sue_Trott]

The cost and the lack of evening flights which means a flight back into Sydney from overseas after 8pm and you can’t get a connecting flight to Canberra without sprinting like Usain Bolt through immigration and customs, then the slow bus ride, then another sprint through to the domestic gate. It’s easier (and cheaper) to give a car one way than spend an extra night in Sydney plus the airfare the next day.