More than 35 million people passed through Melbourne Airport in the 12 months to June 2024, as demand for air travel continued to grow.

A total of 35,127,967 travellers flew through the airport in the 2024 financial year, including more than 24 million domestic passengers and just over 11 million international passengers.

This overall figure represented a 14 per cent increase on the previous year, and 94 per cent of the more than 37 million passengers that travelled in the 2019 financial year. International travel returned to 96 per cent of pre-pandemic numbers, while domestic travellers were at 93 per cent.

Passenger volumes in the month of June hit 2,772,445 people. This was 3.7 per cent higher than June of the previous year and only 100,000 passengers shy of June 2019’s traveller numbers.

Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus said she was pleased to see the continued trajectory of growth.

“The past year has been one of steady growth. We have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels as well as continued to work hard to introduce new airlines, new routes, more capacity and more choice for travellers,” she said.

“We became the first capital city airport in the nation to exceed pre-pandemic international capacity and we have seen huge growth in markets such as Vietnam and India thanks to liberalised bilateral agreements allowing existing airlines to expand operations while also enabling new airlines to enter the market.

“We’ve also been investing heavily in infrastructure so that we can meet future growth. We’re upgrading our terminals to improve the passenger experience, improving our road network to reduce congestion and planning for a third runway.

“The $3 billion third runway will be a crucial asset for the airport and the state, contributing almost $6 billion to the Victorian economy each year and supporting 51,000 jobs.

“We’re on track to see more than 76 million passengers come through our terminals in 2042, which is more than double today’s figures. If our proposed runway project is approved, it will significantly increase our capacity by allowing simultaneous take-offs and landings, which will help improve on-time performance, increase operational resilience for airlines and provide the additional capacity they need to open Melbourne and its surrounding regions to more destinations, more often.”

Passenger figures for June 2024:             

*Monthly percentage growth compared to June 2023

Passenger figures for Financial Year to June

*percentage growth compared to FY 2022/23