Brisbane is the latest major airport to announce it is expecting its busiest day since Covid this week, bringing in therapy dogs to reduce preflight stress.
It comes after Melbourne Airport warned travellers to allow extra time and be patient while waiting in queues as it too expects its busiest day in years this Friday.
On the east coast, Victorian and Queensland school holidays both kick off at the end of this week, with NSW following a week later.
Brisbane Airport expects 70,000 passengers to pass through on Friday alone, while Melbourne Airport is expecting to see 114,000 passengers and an average of 100,000 people a day over the next two weeks.
“We are hosting a Grand Final crowd here every day for the next two weeks, so the terminals and car parks will be busy” Melbourne Airport chief of aviation Jim Parashos said.
The September school holidays also coincide with AFL finals, with the grand final on September 30 at the MCG.
Mr Parashos said on a “normal day” they would have 70,000 to 85,000 passengers pass through, so this Friday was a significant increase. The airport’s last busiest day was 126,000 passengers in 2018.
At Brisbane Airport there will be dogs from Therapy and Support Animals Australia and their handlers in the domestic terminal to provide support to manage any anxiety, following a trial in July.
“The therapy dogs trial was such a success, returning them for school holidays was a no-brainer,” Brisbane Airport head of public affairs Stephen Becket said.
“Passengers and airline crew found they lowered stress levels and were a nice pre-flight distraction. The team had so many incredible interactions with people as the dogs provided an icebreaker.”
Mr Parashos and Mr Becket both urged travellers to book airport parking online in advance as it would be “very busy”.
“Many more people are choosing to drive rather than catch rideshare as they want certainty over their trip and to arrive on time,” Mr Becket said.
Mr Parashos also encouraged travellers to allow extra time for checking in.
“As always we ask for patience from our passengers, there can be lines at busy times but we have extra staff on to ensure you get to where you need to as smoothly as possible,” he said.
He acknowledged they had “learned some valuable lessons” from their handling of other busy periods coming out of Covid.
“In the first couple of school holidays post-pandemic we were encouraging people to come out three, four, five hours prior to departure and all that did was add to the congestion when people couldn’t check in,” he said.
“So what we would encourage people to do is come out about two hours prior to the domestic departure and three, probably not more than fours, for international, so when they come out at least check in is open to collect their luggage and they can continue through security and on to their aeroplane.”
Brisbane Airport is advising Queensland flyers to arrive 90 minutes before their domestic flight and three hours before their international flight.
The top five locations where international visitors are flying into Brisbane from is New Zealand, US, UK, India and Taiwan, and for Queenslanders travelling abroad, the most popular destinations are New Zealand, Bali, UK, Fiji and the US.
Melbourne Airport also noted the coming weeks would see the return of Chinese group travel for the first time since the pandemic, with China celebrating the 8-day national “Golden Week” holiday from September 29 to October 6.
China lifted its ban on group tours to Australia last month.
Mr Parashos said demand for travel remained strong despite cost-of living pressures.
“We are working hard to bring competition into the market where we can to make travel as accessible and affordable for Victorians as possible,” he said.
He said 95 per cent of international services had returned to the airport since Covid and domestic services were at 90 per cent.
An August survey by a consumer research agency for travel search engine Kayak found 90 per cent of Aussie respondents were planning to travel in the next 12 months.
Many said they were willing to delay life events such as saving for a house (21 per cent), changing jobs (14 per cent) and having children (13 per cent), to be able to travel.
Competition in the market is a hot topic at the moment after the Australian Government made the controversial decision to reject an application from Qatar Airways for extra flights into Australia.
The government’s decision has been slammed as a move to protect Qantas from competition, with the relationship between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and former Qantas boss Alan Joyce also coming under fire.
Supporters, including Virgin Australia which has partnership with the Doha-based carrier, said the move would have reduced airfares for Australians, while Qantas, who opposed the decision, claimed it would “distort the market”.
There have been further claims Qantas is hoarding slots at airports, which Mr Joyce has rejected.
Mr Parashos said Melbourne Airport would like to see airlines provide more flights to North America and North Asia, particularly Korea and Japan.
He said they were working really hard to get Air Canada on board to offer direct flights from Melbourne to Canada and hoped it would happen in time for Christmas next year.