International flight demand soars for take-off and landing slots at Sydney Airport

Demand for take-off and landing slots at Sydney Airport for the six months from the end of March 2026 has increased by more than 8% over historical slots held for the corresponding period according to preliminary data from slot manager ACL Asia Pacific.

The biggest year-on- year slot increases were recorded by international passenger and freight carriers while domestic slot requests also grew strongly.

Approved slot requests for international flights by all carriers rose 10%, building on strong growth in international traffic through 2025 at Sydney Airport[i].

Domestic slot allocations for the period – known in aviation terms as the Northern Summer 2026 – increased 7%.

Freight traffic is set to significantly increase with slot allocations up 17%.

Qantas had by far the biggest increase in slot numbers of any carrier, lifting its allocation across domestic and international services by 10% (+6480 slots).

Slot numbers for Jetstar, the Qantas Group’s low cost carrier, also grew 10% (+2750) while Virgin Australia increased its slots by 4% (+1397).

Regional carrier REX, which went into voluntary administration in 2024 and was recently sold by its administrators, held ground growing slot numbers by 1%.

Of the overseas-based carriers, Air New Zealand, Asiana, AirAsia X, Malaysia Airlines, Etihad, China Southern, Scoot, Sri Lankan Airlines, Juneyao Airlines and Qatar Airways had the biggest slot growth.

Total seats numbers rose 9% to 33.8 million; 42% will be flown by international carriers, which also had the most significant increase in seats at 11% compared with 8% growth in domestic seat numbers.

This is because of the larger aircraft used by carriers for medium and long haul international flights.

ACL Chief Executive Officer Neil Garwood said more flights means greater choice and increased competition, which will benefit consumers.   

He said ACL was able to offer airlines 91% of all slot requests at the time they asked for. The remainder were offered a time as close as possible to the original request.

Mr Garwood said the Northern Summer 2026 was the first slot allocation since Sydney Airport’s new demand management framework became law in October.

“We’ve been delighted to allocate our first full season of slots since taking over in April,” he said.

“What we’re seeing at Sydney plays out consistently with hub airports around the world where demand for next year is up versus this year and average aircraft sizes are increasing.

“We anticipate demand profiles will change slightly as the season approaches and airlines firm up their schedules.

“At Sydney about 70% of the available slots have been taken for the Northern Summer season next year, so we still have ample capacity available.”

The slot process will continue until the season starts on March 29, 2026, as ACL works with airlines to optimise their schedules.  The Northern Summer Season runs until October 25, 2026.

Contact: Martin Kelly, MJKpr for ACL, martin@mjkpr.au, +61 414 774 978

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[i] In late October, Sydney Airport said at the current trajectory it was on track to record its busiest year ever for international travel.