List of the busiest airports in Australia

This is a list of the busiest airports in Australia by passenger traffic and aircraft movements.

Total monthly arrivals to Australia since 1976

At a glance

Passenger traffic per civil year for ten busiest australian airports. See Wikidata query.

Top 10 airports by passenger movements

This is a list of the busiest airports in Australia by passenger movements (both inbound and outbound) compiled by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. All passenger numbers are listed in thousands.^[1]

#	Airport	Location	IATA	1985–86	1990–91	1995–96	2000–01	2005–06	2010–11	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
1	Sydney Airport	Sydney, New South Wales	SYD	9,498	12,361	19,878	25,814	28,996	35,958	41,105	42,614	44,035	44,376	32,195	7,804	13,670
2	Melbourne Airport	Melbourne, Victoria	MEL	6,476	8,346	12,972	16,881	21,041	27,963	33,705	34,878	36,319	37,057	27,003	6,106	12,817
3	Brisbane Airport	Brisbane, Queensland	BNE	3,457	5,246	9,236	12,467	16,016	19,975	22,320	22,653	23,238	23,623	17,805	7,530	10,023
4	Perth Airport	Perth, Western Australia	PER	1,939	2,508	4,145	5,162	7,005	10,890	12,558	12,453	12,433	12,406	9,346	3,262	4,757
5	Adelaide Airport	Adelaide, South Australia	ADL	2,082	2,461	3,743	4,443	5,767	7,279	7,778	7,999	8,274	8,368	6,246	2,751	3,821
6	Gold Coast Airport	Gold Coast, Queensland	OOL	778	1,090	1,993	1,888	3,515	5,486	6,273	6,457	6,541	6,414	4,779	2,002	2,996
7	Cairns Airport	Cairns, Queensland	CNS	578	1,288	2,595	2,891	3,731	3,859	4,711	4,898	4,969	4,859	3,472	2,082	2,625
8	Hobart Airport	Hobart, Tasmania	HBA	506	590	850	974	1,606	1,903	2,313	2,441	2,596	2,726	2,074	1,037	1,506
9	Canberra Airport	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	CBR	1,008	1,124	1,750	2,107	2,550	3,241	2,831	3,013	3,179	3,218	2,350	1,045	1,286
10	Townsville Airport	Townsville, Queensland	TSV	1,030	512	598	732	1,161	1,630	1,530	1,535	1,627	1,594	1,216	976	1,195

Note: Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Darwin International Airport, Northern Territory was ranked 10.

Top 10 airports by aircraft movements

This is a list of the busiest airports in Australia by aircraft movements compiled by Airservices Australia.^[2] This list includes regular public transport operations and private operations.

Rank	Airport	Location	IATA	2000	2005	2010	2015
1	Sydney Airport	Sydney, New South Wales	SYD	308,342	281,738	304,938	336,956
2	Moorabbin Airport	Melbourne, Victoria	MBW	256,644	264,734	252,218	242,542
3	Parafield Airport	Adelaide, South Australia	none	158,268	177,432	228,290	235,384
4	Melbourne Airport	Melbourne, Victoria	MEL	174,462	180,278	205,202	235,314
5	Jandakot Airport	Perth, Western Australia	JAD	265,700	372,300	295,516	222,874
6	Bankstown Airport	Sydney, New South Wales	BWU	298,798	275,846	275,978	220,166
7	Brisbane Airport	Brisbane, Queensland	BNE	169,198	164,538	187,956	220,154
8	Perth Airport	Perth, Western Australia	PER	103,198	101,648	124,640	138,728
9	Archerfield Airport	Brisbane, Queensland	None	182,682	141,466	118,354	133,872
10	Adelaide Airport	Adelaide, South Australia	ADL	112,554	106,840	101,560	106,630

Top 50 airports by revenue passenger traffic in 2014–15

This list shows revenue passenger traffic by airport. It is compiled from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.^[3] Note: data not available for Avalon Airport; regular public transport operations only.

Rank	Airport	Location	State/territory	Domestic revenue passengers	International revenue passengers	Total revenue passengers
1	Sydney Airport	Sydney	New South Wales	25,513,156	13,508,201	39,021,357
2	Melbourne Airport	Melbourne	Victoria	23,524,659	8,410,941	31,935,600
3	Brisbane Airport	Brisbane	Queensland	16,775,021	5,143,336	21,918,357
4	Perth Airport	Perth	Western Australia	8,535,765	4,187,270	14,176,390
5	Adelaide Airport	Adelaide	South Australia	6,736,724	933,477	8,066,632
6	Gold Coast Airport	Gold Coast	Queensland	4,988,337	878,957	5,867,294
7	Cairns Airport	Cairns	Queensland	3,902,635	488,379	4,391,014
8	Canberra Airport	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory	2,803,989	0	2,803,989
9	Hobart Airport	Hobart	Tasmania	2,186,358	0	2,186,358
10	Darwin Airport	Darwin	Northern Territory	1,765,089	292,218	2,057,307
11	Townsville Airport	Townsville	Queensland	1,497,946	0	1,497,946
12	Launceston Airport	Launceston	Tasmania	1,272,198	0	1,272,198
13	Newcastle Airport	Newcastle	New South Wales	1,142,997	0	1,142,997
14	Mackay Airport	Mackay	Queensland	928,354	0	928,354
15	Sunshine Coast Airport	Sunshine Coast	Queensland	837,678	10,228	847,906
16	Karratha Airport	Karratha	Western Australia	659,913	0	659,913
17	Rockhampton Airport	Rockhampton	Queensland	634,913	0	634,913
18	Alice Springs Airport	Alice Springs	Northern Territory	582,775	0	582,755
19	Hamilton Island Airport	Hamilton Island	Queensland	493,860	0	493,860
20	Port Hedland Airport	Port Hedland	Western Australia	469,118	1,623	470,741
21	Gladstone Airport	Gladstone	Queensland	443,730	0	443,730
22	Ballina Byron Gateway Airport	Ballina	New South Wales	437,026	0	437,026
23	Broome Airport	Broome	Western Australia	383,952	0	383,952
24	Coffs Harbour Airport	Coffs Harbour	New South Wales	354,212	0	354,212
25	Newman Airport	Newman	Western Australia	348,885	0	348,885
26	Ayers Rock Airport	Ayers Rock	Northern Territory	307,068	0	307,068
27	Proserpine Airport	Proserpine	Queensland	280,848	0	280,848
28	Albury Airport	Albury	New South Wales	244,611	0	244,611
29	Emerald Airport	Emerald	Queensland	230,274	0	230,274
30	Kalgoorlie Airport	Kalgoorlie	Western Australia	227,946	0	227,946
31	Port Macquarie Airport	Port Macquarie	New South Wales	225,198	0	225,198
32	Mildura Airport	Mildura	Victoria	212,789	0	212,789
33	Wagga Wagga Airport	Wagga Wagga	New South Wales	209,671	0	209,671
34	Mount Isa Airport	Mount Isa	Queensland	208,395	0	208,395
35	Roma Airport	Roma	Queensland	198,099	0	198,099
36	Port Lincoln Airport	Port Lincoln	South Australia	190,853	0	190,853
37	Dubbo Airport	Dubbo	New South Wales	188,736	0	188,736
38	Paraburdoo Airport	Paraburdoo	Western Australia	176,100	0	176,100
39	Hervey Bay Airport	Hervey Bay	Queensland	162,688	0	162,688
40	Bundaberg Airport	Bundaberg	Queensland	156,231	0	156,231
41	Moranbah Airport	Moranbah	Queensland	156,192	0	156,192
42	Tamworth Airport	Tamworth	New South Wales	153,838	0	153,838
43	Devonport Airport	Devonport	Tasmania	143,597	0	143,597
44	Armidale Airport	Armidale	New South Wales	124,173	0	124,173
45	Geraldton Airport	Geraldton	Western Australia	119,467	0	119,467
46	Horn Island Airport	Horn Island	Queensland	88,197	0	88,197
47	Learmonth Airport	Exmouth	Western Australia	82,720	0	82,720
48	Kununurra Airport	Kununurra	Western Australia	77,415	0	77,415
49	Mount Gambier Airport	Mount Gambier	South Australia	76,950	0	76,950
50	Olympic Dam Airport	Olympic Dam	South Australia	74,346	0	74,346

References

1. "Airport Traffic Data" (XLS). Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. 2022. from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
2. "Movements at Australian airports". Airservices Australia. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
3. "Airport Traffic Data 1985–86 to 2014–15". Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.