• Aussie airline Jetstar has dropped prices for at least 22,000 flights to as little as $22 in some cases.
• Travel back on as ABS figures show total departures from Australia were 227,230 in December – a monthly increase of 136,130 trips.
• Despite COVID-19 the domestic aviation market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4%-plus during 2020-2025.

Budget airline Jetstar has announced it’s slashing prices for at least 22,000 flights to more than 50 destinations in a new 24-hour special designed to bring travellers back to the sky.

The Aussie airline has dropped prices to as little as $22 in some cases in an appeal to get people back up in the air after the pandemic had ground most travel to a halt.

Jetstar at midnight on Monday launched the sale with fares being available for major cities and rural areas around Australia including Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Hamilton Island, Melbourne, Sydney, and Uluru.

At the time of writing, Jetstar was hit with technical issues after an influx of people rushed to the website to land some cheap flights.

While Jetstar’s move could be seen as a circuit breaker and spur on other airlines to follow suit, February 2022 figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on international travel arriving in and departing from Australia actually revealed an increase in the number of people taking to the sky.

Total arrivals to Australia in December was 195,760 – a monthly increase of 123,520 trips, while total departures were 227,230 – a monthly increase of 136,130 trips.

Despite the pandemic throwing most travel into chaos, market research firm Mordor Intelligence forecasts the domestic aviation market to exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 4% during 2020-2025.

The aviation industry underpins Aussie business and tourism and has an estimated annual revenue of $26.94 billion. It added $10.73 billion to the Australian economy in 2019-20 despite COVID-19 ravaging the economy and closing borders.

While the short-term outlook is negative for commercial aviation across the globe, long-term industry growth is still expected, according to Mordor Intelligence. Demand for domestic business travel will remain low for some time as organisations face economic constraints, business interruptions, and more people work from home.

Once international borders fully open, confidence and uptake of a vaccine will be a key factor for driving industry recovery.