Gold Coast Airport marks strong overseas growth
GCA served 6.5 million passengers as overseas traffic rose 25% in financial year 2025-26.
What’s Happening?
Gold Coast Airport finished the 2025-26 financial year with strong growth across its international and domestic networks.
New overseas routes, returning services and added airline capacity supported the result as regional demand continued to rise.
Demand from the Gold Coast and Northern NSW was particularly strong on New Zealand services. This helped deliver the airport’s busiest year for Trans-Tasman travel.
Why It Matters
More international routes give local passengers greater choice when travelling to New Zealand, Bali and Fiji.
Queensland Airports Limited CEO Amelia Evans said successful new routes and added capacity reflected growing regional demand.
“We welcomed several new services to our network this year, particularly between the Gold Coast and New Zealand, making us Australia’s most connected airport across the Tasman,” Ms Evans said.
Local Impact
Jetstar began Gold Coast services to Hamilton and Dunedin in June 2025. Their performance prompted the airline to add capacity within six months.
“Jetstar services to Hamilton and Dunedin launched in June 2025 exceeded expectations, with the airline increasing capacity on both routes just six months into operations,” Ms Evans said.
Qantas also resumed international operations from the Gold Coast in July 2026 through its Auckland service.
“Qantas also recommenced international operations last month between Gold Coast and Auckland,” Ms Evans said.
The new and returning routes added to strong demand across the airport’s existing Trans-Tasman network.
“Those routes, combined with strong demand on our existing Trans-Tasman services, helped drive New Zealand passenger growth by more than 20% year on year.”
By the Numbers
Gold Coast Airport handled 6.5 million passengers during 2025-26. January was its busiest month, with 637,000 travellers.
International passenger numbers increased by 25% year on year. New Zealand traffic grew by more than 20%.
Domestic traffic reached 5.7 million passengers, up 5.6% from the 2024-25 financial year.
Zoom In
Domestic demand continued to run ahead of available seats on key routes connecting the Gold Coast with Sydney and Melbourne.
“We continue to see demand outstrip supply on key domestic routes such as Sydney and Melbourne,” Ms Evans said.
Airlines added seats on both routes, but passenger growth still moved faster than capacity.
“On the Sydney route, airlines increased capacity by 5%, adding more seats to the market, yet passenger numbers grew even faster, up 6%, or an additional 144,000 travellers,” Ms Evans said. “We saw a similar trend on the Melbourne route, where capacity increased by 4% while passenger numbers grew by 5%, or more than 106,000 additional travellers.”
Zoom Out
International growth extended beyond New Zealand, supported by Jetstar’s Bali service and Fiji Airways’ direct Nadi route.
“Passengers on other international routes grew by more than 53%, boosted by the introduction of new services including Jetstar’s Bali route and Fiji Airways’ direct service to Nadi, which launched last month,” Ms Evans said.
January also delivered the airport’s strongest monthly result and set a new monthly record for New Zealand travel.
“The busiest month was January when we welcomed 637,000 travellers through the airport, which was the busiest month on record for New Zealand travel.”
What To Look For Next?
Gold Coast Airport will welcome Western Sydney International Airport’s first commercial flight in October 2026.
Announced in July 2026, the connection will add capacity to the Sydney market. It will also give travellers greater choice on one of Australia’s busiest routes. The added service could help meet demand already running ahead of available seats between the Gold Coast and Sydney.