Sunshine Coast Airport Statistics

Sunshine Coast Airport (MCY) is Queensland's key regional gateway and ranks as Australia's 10th-busiest airport. It connects the Sunshine Coast region to domestic and international destinations through airline partners including Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Qantas.

Sunshine Coast Airport handles over 1.77 million passengers annually.

• The airport served 1.73 million passengers in 2025, a slight increase from 1.70 million in 2024.
• In 2019, before the pandemic, 1.28 million passengers were recorded.
• Traffic dropped sharply in 2020 to 327,356 passengers, a 74% decline due to COVID-19 restrictions.
• Recovery began in 2021 with 569,376 passengers, rising to 1.49 million in 2022 and reaching an all-time high of 1.85 million in 2023.

Passenger Volume by Type of Airlines

• Domestic airlines carried 1.67 million passengers in 2025, reflecting a marginal decline from 2024, but remaining steady relative to internal demand and regular flight schedules.
• International airlines carried 55,907 passengers, showing growth on reopened routes and improving traveller confidence.

Major domestic carriers operate at MCY, with Jetstar holding the largest market share.

• Jetstar is the dominant carrier at Sunshine Coast, operating primarily on the Sydney and Melbourne routes using Airbus A320 aircraft.
• Virgin Australia operates scheduled MCY-Sydney and MCY-Melbourne services, largely with Boeing 737-family equipment.
• Qantas/QantasLink operates regular MCY services, mainly to Sydney and also to Melbourne.

• As of 2025, Sunshine Coast Airport featured 6 direct, non-stop routes connecting the region to key domestic and international hubs.
• There are international routes to Auckland, New Zealand and Denpasar, Bali.
• Domestic destinations include Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Cairns¹.

• Delays from Sydney and Melbourne, where late-arriving aircraft affect onward flights to Sunshine Coast.
• Summer thunderstorms and seasonal weather events, though these are less frequent than at southern airports.
• Air traffic control holds at destination airports like Sydney, even when local weather is clear.
• Aircraft positioning and crew scheduling challenges during holiday peaks.
• Sunshine Coast Airport maintains strong reliability, with 100% on-time arrivals in August 2025, the best performance among Australian airports. Typical on-time performance is 75–80%.

• 7 May 2023: A Diamond DA40 training aircraft entered the runway 31 strip at Sunshine Coast Airport without clearance, causing a Boeing 737 that had been cleared to land to conduct a go-around. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigated the runway incursion and released its final report on 27 October 2023.
• 10 November 2023: A Cessna 421C departing Sunshine Coast Airport on a transpacific ferry flight suffered a left-engine failure and ditched approximately 53 km east of the airport after the pilots determined they could not safely return. Both occupants were rescued without injury.
• 19 August 2025: A Link Airways Saab 340 returned to Sunshine Coast Airport shortly after takeoff following an engine fire warning. The crew shut down the affected engine and landed safely. All occupants disembarked without serious injury, although one passenger was transported to hospital in stable condition with chest pain.