It takes a couple of months after the end of a month to discover...

It takes a couple of months after the end of a month to discover passenger numbers on the more popular routes that the Federal Government publishes through its 'transport bureau' called BITRE, but statistics are not disaggregated by individual airline.

It's clear passenger numbers overall are markedly down. The CBR - MEL route is not one of the five busiest, but QAN has downsized most of its flights (that would normally be chock-a-block with politicians in season, lobbyists and public servants) to B717s that have as few as 110 seats if they're the ones with a business cabin.

Previously, these flights were often B737-800s with 174 seats, so on this one route that's almost a 37 per cent reduction in the maximum number of passengers.