Airservices Unveils March 2026 Aviation Network Report

Airservices Australia has released its Australian Aviation Network Overview report for March 2026.

Highlights include:

• Short-term volatility remained the defining theme for aviation in March 2026, however against a backdrop of Middle East conflict and uncertainties in fuel and energy supply, the Australian aviation network demonstrated strong resilience. Overall activity levels broadly aligned with the trend over the last two years. Australia-Middle East traffic is down 77% year-on-year and direct Australia- Europe traffic has fallen by 31% as some services are re-routed via other hubs. In contrast, Asian gateways such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Seoul are capturing much of this displaced demand and may emerge as alternative hubs and travel destinations. Growth in international markets is mixed, with media reporting that some Chinese airlines are reducing flights to Australia to focus on higher yield routes while outbound demand to Southeast Asia remains resilient.
• Domestic leisure and mining demand, together with solid international travel across Asia Pacific markets, largely offset the reduction in Middle East and European traffic in March 2026. Operators have responded with a cautious and disciplined approach to the evolving environment, underpinned by regular risk assessment and cross-sector coordination. Notwithstanding, forecast domestic schedules for May and June show current schedule forecast have decreased to pre-conflict schedules, with domestic capacity reductions of up to -1.5% and recent industry announcements of up to 5% reductions in domestic capacity.
• Industry operational performance continued to improve, although adverse weather at Melbourne and Sydney drove air traffic flow management (ATFM) ground delays to around double last year's level. The 2025-26 summer season was the wettest in nearly a decade, with rainfall 32% higher than average. Industry focus remains firmly on coordinated disruption preparation, recovery capability and operational process refinement in response to increasing cost pressures and volatile external factors.
• Industry collaboration progressed further through agreement to share data and jointly develop consistent methodologies to track Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) benefits. Continued engagement will occur with industry partners on A-CDM ways of working and increased data transparency to drive network-wide outcomes.
• In March, Airservices managed 75,301 passenger flights. Air Traffic Service variations decreased by 97% year-on-year and Airservices attributable ATFM ground delay were limited to Sydney operations on 6 March due to thunderstorm activity combined with rostering, staffing, and recovery constraints. Although departure spacing was applied at times in Brisbane and Sydney without impacting arrival throughput, these events still highlight the need to improve consistency in service provision. In the lead-up to Easter, heightened resilience measures were implemented, including daily roundtable oversight of network decisions and a strong focus on maximising all available resources to service the travelling public.
• Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) delivered 99.96% service availability, while responding to a 10% year-on-year increase in annual call-outs, particularly at major airports. Despite the impacts of ex-cyclone Narelle, ARFF supported timely recovery and safe resumption of essential aviation services.
• Despite a long-term decline in suitable weather conditions since 2020 in Brisbane, Airservices has focussed on enabling Simultaneous Opposite Direction Parallel Runway Operations (SODPROPS), with usage doubling between 2024 and 2025. However, SODPROPS remains highly weather dependent, and in March the required conditions were available for only 14% of priority hours. Airservices recognises the benefits of SODPROPS for the Brisbane community and will continue to maximise use of this mode when conditions are favourable.

About Airservices

Airservices Australia is a government-owned organisation responsible for safely and efficiently managing air traffic in 11 per cent of the world's airspace, as well as the provision of aviation rescue fire fighting services at Australia's busiest airports. We are regulated by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and work closely with our customers and industry to support the long-term growth of the aviation industry.