Easter records tumble

AUSTRALIAN carriers and airports are bracing for what is forecast to be the busiest Easter period since 2019, with Qantas Group alone expecting 620,000 customers to fly across its networks over the next five days.

Today will be the biggest day of volumes, with more than 120,000 customers travelling on nearly 1,200 services, while numbers will peak again on Easter Mon as customers return home from their extended breaks.

At Sydney Airport, the hub is anticipating around 2.4 million people to pass through its gates, comprised of roughly 1.5 million domestic passengers and 850,000 international passengers.

Meanwhile, Melbourne Airport is expecting 2.1 million passengers to take off and land over the Easter break, 30% more than last year and very close to parity with 2019 levels.

The Melbourne hub confirmed it will have increased security staff, strategic aircraft bay allocation to spread passenger loads, additional customer service teams across its car parks, and corporate staff assisting in terminals to cater for the major upswing in travellers.

Up north in Qld, Brisbane said it is predicting a post-pandemic record of 69,000 travellers today, getting close to overall record territory, which stands at 83,867 set in Dec 2017.

Air New Zealand is also expecting big gains, with 210,000 customers booked across Easter season, up 68% on 2022.