Australia's air market readjustment accelerates as AUD shifts promise changes in travel patterns

Australia's outbound market has continued to strengthen while its inbound market has been relatively stable in recent years.

Australian residents took a record 8.4 million short-term trips overseas in the financial year ended 30-Jun-2013, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), up from 8 million trips in 2012 and nearly three times the number from 10 years ago when 3.3 million short-term departures were recorded.

This growth has been largely driven by Australia's strong resources fuelled economy, with a high AUD making international travel more appealing for Australians compared to a domestic holiday. The recent substantial fall in the AUD has not yet had time to make its effects felt at the consumer end, but the approximately 15% fall against the USD since Apr-2013 (and against those currencies linked to the USD) will be causing pain to airlines whose reliance on Australian outbound traffic is high.

Despite the AUD losing ground however, there appears to be little lessening of appetite for Australians to travel - at least in the short term.