Air Services in Australia: Growth and Corporate Change, 1921–1996

The growth of Australian internal passenger airlines in the seventy-five years between 1921 and 1996 has been spectacular with 381 airlines having been part of this evolution. The end of 1996 saw 44 passenger airlines operating, but the nine that made up the two principal airline families performed 98 per cent of total passenger-kilometres. This paper considers the factors which have moulded the industry and the changes which have occurred in its corporate structure, especially those that led to the formation of the present duopoly. The growth of the industry has not resulted in marked spatial changes apart from a 48 per cent decline in the number of airports served since 1963–64. The proportion of total traffic passing through the busier airports has increased over the last thirty years.