Domestic air travel on the rise, with one generation leading the way

View over Sydney from a jet aeroplane flying at sunset
By Alexandra Coulton


New research from Roy Morgan shows that the domestic airline travel industry in Australia is growing strongly, up by 7 per cent from a year ago to over 8.46 million domestic air travellers in the year to March 2019.

There has been a growth in customer patronage across all six of Australia’s leading domestic airlines and competition is close between the three leaders Qantas, Virgin Australia and discount operator Jetstar.

Qantas leads the way with over 4.3 million domestic customers in the last year, up 3.9ppts on a year ago, ahead of Jetstar which has enjoyed growth of 13.3ppts and now has more than 4 million and Virgin Australia with even stronger growth of 15.9ppts and has closed the gap on its two leading rivals with almost 3.8 million domestic customers.

Gen X are Australia’s leading domestic flyers – ahead of Millennials.

Analysing Australia’s domestic airline customers by generation shows Gen X are Australia’s leading domestic air travellers numbering some 2.31 million ahead of 2.04 million Millennials and 1.96 million Baby Boomers. Nearly half of Gen X, 47 per cent, has travelled via a domestic airline in the last year.

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, November 2018 - April 2019. Base: Australians 14+ who have used a domestic airline in the last 12 months (n=2,604).

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, November 2018 – April 2019. Base: Australians 14+ who have used a domestic airline in the last 12 months (n=2,604).

As Australia’s leading domestic air travellers Gen X comprise the largest share of customers for most of Australia’s leading airlines including Qantas (30 per cent), Virgin Australia (28 per cent), Jetstar (28 per cent), QantasLink (35 per cent) and REX/Regional Express (36 per cent).

The sole exception is Tigerair for whom 37 per cent of their customers are Millennials – a higher reliance on any one generation than any other airline.

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