TRANSPORT ACTIVITY

Domestic airline activity

The total hours flown and the number of aircraft departures by the major domestic and regional airlines are shown in graph 24.6. In 2008 there were 868,000 hours flown, while aircraft departures totalled 556,000.

In addition to domestic and regional scheduled services, activities undertaken by the general aviation industry include private and business flying, agriculture, charter, training and test and ferry flying (graph 24.7). Charter, flying training and aerial work activity accounted for 75% of general aviation hours flown in 2007. Aerial work includes all survey and photography, spotting, stock mustering, search and rescue, ambulance, towing (including glider, target and banner towing) and other aerial work (including advertising, cloud seeding, fire fighting and coastal surveillance). Test and ferry flying is associated with the testing of an aircraft or associated with its delivery or movement to a location for maintenance, hire or other planned use. It accounted for 1% of hours flown in 2007.

Road transport activity

Motor vehicles travelled an estimated total distance of 215,171 million kilometres (km) in the year ended 31 October 2007, at an average of 15,300 km per vehicle (table 24.8). Business use accounted for an estimated 34% of aggregate distance travelled, and private use 66%. Of total private use travel, 37% consisted of travel to and from work, and 63% for personal and other use travel.

24.8 BUSINESS AND PRIVATE VEHICLE USE - Year ended 31 October 2007
	Business				Private
Type of vehicle	Laden	Unladen	Total(a)		To and from work	Personal and other use	Total
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED (mill. km)
Passenger vehicles	-	-	31 902		45 257	80 769	157 928
Motor cycles	-	-	^206		^444	^1 254	1 905
Light commercial vehicles	17 400	6 491	23 891		6 742	6 752	37 385
Rigid trucks	5 816	2 526	8 342		^136	^166	8 644
Articulated trucks	5 122	1 798	6 920		^7	^2	6 929
Non-freight carrying trucks	-	-	^283		** -	** -	^283
Buses	-	-	2 003		^22	^73	2 097
Total	28 338	10 816	73 548		52 607	89 016	215 171
AVERAGE DISTANCE TRAVELLED (‘000 km)(b)
Passenger vehicles	-	-	8.9		7.6	8.3	14.3
Motor cycles	-	-	^2.9		^3.3	^3.9	5.0
Light commercial vehicles	14.4	8.5	18.7		8.4	5.9	18.1
Rigid trucks	17.5	9.8	24.8		^4.3	^4.7	24.3
Articulated trucks	73.8	30.2	98.8		^3.7	*2.2	98.1
Non-freight carrying trucks	-	-	^15.3		**0.8	**0.3	^15.2
Buses	-	-	33.4		^4.6	^9.3	32.4
Total	17.6	10.0	13.6		7.6	7.9	15.3
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes business travel of non-freight carrying vehicles.
(b) Average distance travelled for registered vehicles which were used.
Source: ABS Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia (9208.0).

The localities in which motor vehicles travelled are described in table 24.9. Only 5% of total distance travelled represented interstate trips, while 56% of trips were within the capital city of the state or territory in which the vehicle was registered.

24.9 LOCATION OF VEHICLE OPERATION - Year ended 31 October 2007
	Within state/territory of registration
Type of vehicle	Capital city	Provincial urban	Other areas of state/territory	Total	Interstate	Australia
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED (mill. km)
Passenger vehicles	94 976	30 799	26 476	152 250	^5,677	157 928
Motor cycles	^830	^481	^520	1 831	*74	1 905
Light commercial vehicles	18 067	6 803	10 959	35 829	^1,556	37 385
Rigid trucks	4 383	1 328	2 472	8 183	^461	8 644
Articulated trucks	1 302	557	3 275	5 135	1 795	6 929
Non-freight carrying trucks	^139	^37	^82	^258	**25	^283
Buses	1 029	^396	574	1 999	*98	2 097
Total	120 727	40 400	44 358	205 485	9 686	215 171
AVERAGE DISTANCE TRAVELLED (’000 km)(a)
Passenger vehicles	11.8	7.8	8.1	13.8	^6.4	14.3
Motor cycles	3.7	^4.0	^3.7	4.8	^3.5	5.0
Light commercial vehicles	15.5	8.7	12.6	17.6	^10.1	18.1
Rigid trucks	23.2	11.8	15.7	23.2	^20.6	24.3
Articulated trucks	30.0	18.8	65.2	74.4	85.3	98.1
Non-freight carrying trucks	^17.7	^8.8	^9.5	14.2	**27.6	^15.2
Buses	29.3	21.9	22.4	31.2	^21.9	32.4
Total	12.4	8.0	9.8	14.7	8.7	15.3
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use
(a) Average distance travelled for registered vehicles which were used.
Source: ABS Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia (9208.0).

Registered motor vehicles in Australia consumed 30,047 million litres of fuel in the 12 months ended 31 October 2007 (table 24.10). Of the total fuel consumed by motor vehicles in this period, 63% was petrol and 31% was diesel.

Passenger vehicles used 15,910 million litres of petrol in the 12 months ended 31 October 2007. This was 88% of all fuel used by passenger vehicles.

A total of 6,206 million litres of diesel was used by articulated and rigid trucks. This was 66% of all diesel used. Light commercial vehicles used 1,687 million litres which was 18% of all diesel.

The average rate of fuel consumption for all motor vehicles in the 12 months ended 31 October 2007 was 14.0 litres per 100 kilometres. Articulated trucks had the highest average fuel consumption with 54.6 litres per 100 kilometres, followed by rigid trucks with 28.5 litres per 100 kilometres and buses with 28.3 litres per 100 kilometres. The average fuel consumption rate for passenger vehicles was 11.5 litres per 100 kilometres or around 25 miles per gallon.

In March 2003, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) adopted a voluntary target aimed at progressively improving fuel consumption for new petrol passenger vehicles to an average of 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres by 2010.

In mid 2005, to reflect the need to reduce carbon emissions, a new industry target was established to reduce average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for all new light vehicles (less than 3.5 tonnes gross mass) to 222 grams of CO2 per kilometre by 2010. Accordingly, this target incorporates a significantly broader range of vehicles (cars, SUVs and light trucks, etc.) and all fuel types (petrol, diesel, LPG, etc.).

Over recent years there has been a continuous reduction in average new vehicle emissions. From an estimated 252 grams of CO2 per kilometre in 2002, National Average Carbon Emissions (NACE) for all new light vehicles sold in Australia for 2008 was 222.4 grams of CO2 per kilometre. This decline in carbon emissions of new vehicles places the industry well on track to achieve the target of an average of 222 grams of CO2 per kilometre by 2010.

The Government has commenced a process to review emission standards.

24.10 MOTOR VEHICLE FUEL CONSUMPTION - Year ended 13 October 2007
	Type of vehicle
Type of fuel	Passenger vehicles	Motor cycles	Light commercial vehicles	Rigid trucks	Articulated trucks	Non-freight carrying trucks	Buses	Total
TOTAL FUEL CONSUMPTION (million litres)
Petrol	15 910	^124	2 780	^25	-	*5	^32	18 876
Diesel	^888	-	1 687	2 425	3 781	^72	519	9 372
LPG/CNG/dual fuel/hybrid(a)	^1 296	-	^442	*12	**4	**1	^43	^1 799
Total	18 094	^124	4 909	2 463	3 785	^78	595	30 047
AVERAGE RATE OF FUEL CONSUMPTION (litres per 100 kilimetres)(b)
Petrol	11.1	6.5	13.2	21.9	-	^22.1	14.5	11.4
Diesel	12.3	-	12.5	28.6	54.6	28.0	29.2	24.5
LPG/CNG/dual fuel/hybrid(a)	16.6	-	16.0	^26.9	^64.4	*30.9	^44.0	16.7
Total	11.5	6.5	13.1	28.5	54.6	27.6	28.3	14.0
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) LPG is liquefied petroleum gas. CNG is compressed natural gas.
(b) Calculated using the total fuel consumption divided by the total kilometres travelled.
Source: ABS Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia (9208.0).

Graph 24.11 shows the total fuel consumption of registered vehicles for the yearly collection periods of the ABS Survey of Motor Vehicle Use for 1998 to 2007.

Between 1998 and 2007 total consumption for all types of petrol rose from 16,062 million litres to 18,876 million litres, a rise of 18%. Over the same period the consumption of diesel fuel rose from 5,840 million litres to 9,372 million litres, an increase of 60%, while the use of other fuels types fell by 10%, from 2,007 million litres in 1998 to 1,799 million litres in 2007.

Table 24.12 shows the sales of petroleum products for Australia for the years 1988 to 2008. Sales of automotive gasoline (petrol) in 2008 totalled 18,910 million litres, an increase of 2,135 million litres or 13%, compared with total sales of 16,775 million litres in 1988.

Between 1988 and 2008 sales of unleaded petrol increased by 392%. Unleaded petrol was introduced into the Australian market at the start of 1986 to reduce the toxicity of emissions into the atmosphere from motor vehicle engines. The use of unleaded petrol allowed catalytic converters to be fitted to, and used by, the motor vehicles which were sold in Australia from 1986, as the lead in leaded petrol (used as an engine anti-knock agent and valve seat lubricant) contaminates the converter and prevents it from treating the engine's exhaust gases.

Leaded petrol was phased out in Australia as of the first of January 2002. It was replaced with the alternative lead replacement petrol (LRP), consisting of a high octane (96 RON) premium unleaded petrol containing a non-lead additive that protected against valve-seat recession. In 2002 sales of LRP were 2,051 million litres. The number of cars that require LRP has gradually reduced to the point that it has become effectively not viable for fuel suppliers to produce, store and distribute the fuel, and for service stations to retail it. This has resulted in a very limited availability of LRP, as it is being progressively phased out of the market. Sales of this fuel were 200,000 litres in 2008.

In 2005 sales of premium unleaded petrol, which can have a Research Octane Number (RON) of 95 to 98, depending on the particular product (compared with 91 for regular unleaded petrol) were 2,494 million litres, falling to 1,710 million litres in 2008.

Unleaded petrol sales accounted for 18% of total automotive gasoline sales in 1988. By 2008 unleaded petrol accounted for 77% of total automotive gasoline sales, premium unleaded 9%, proprietary brand fuel 7% and E10 fuel just under 7%. E10 is a specific fuel consisting of regular unleaded petrol blended with up to 10% ethanol (an alcohol derived from carbohydrate-rich plants such as sugar cane and corn). Federal government legislation imposes a 10% limit on the amount of ethanol in automotive petrol.

In 2008 automotive diesel oil (ADO) sales volume was 18,726 million litres, a rise of 9,360 million litres or 100% compared with 9,366 million litres of ADO sold in 1988.

24.12 SALES OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
	Automotive Gasoline
	Unleaded	Premium unleaded	Proprietary Brand	Lead replacement	E10	Total	Automotive Diesel Oil
	million litres	million litres	million litres	million litres	million litres	million litres	million litres
1988	2 945.0	na	na	13 830.0	na	16 775.0	9 365.6
1989	4 145.0	na	na	13 155.0	na	17 300.0	9 994.7
1990	5 219.0	na	na	11 932.0	na	17 151.0	10 022.0
1991	6 022.0	na	na	10 858.0	na	16 880.0	9 783.9
1992	6 853.0	na	na	10 256.0	na	17 109.0	10 053.4
1993	7 857.0	na	na	9 569.0	na	17 426.0	10 538.1
1994	9 343.8	na	na	8 339.8	na	17 683.6	11 050.7
1995	10 297.5	na	na	7 451.5	na	17 749.0	11 453.5
1996	11 186.0	na	na	6 781.5	na	17 967.5	12 133.4
1997	11 982.2	na	na	5 914.5	na	17 896.7	12 574.1
1998	12 888.0	na	na	5 123.1	na	18 011.1	12 616.9
1999	14 028.7	na	na	4 374.6	na	18 403.3	13 207.1
2000	14 751.3	na	na	3 406.7	na	18 158.0	12 877.9
2001	15 795.6	na	na	2 636.1	na	18 431.7	13 274.3
2002	16 832.5	na	na	2 051.3	na	18 883.8	13 720.1
2003	18 198.9	na	na	1 406.4	na	19 605.3	14 258.8
2004	18 283.5	773.6	na	840.8	na	19 901.3	14 803.4
2005	15 885.4	2 493.6	585.6	154.7	12.1	19 131.4	15 387.3
2006	15 934.9	1 794.0	1 157.3	0.5	151.3	19 038.0	16 464.3
2007	15 623.7	1 843.7	1 406.7	0.1	495.2	19 369.5	17 550.7
2008	14 502.6	1 710.4	1 388.5	0.2	1 308.5	18 910.2	18 725.7
na not available
Source: Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism - Australian Petroleum Statistics.

Transport passenger activity

Personal travel occurs for many reasons, including school, business, recreation and travel to and from work. While road transport accounts for the majority of domestic passenger trips undertaken, rail services are used by a considerable number of urban commuters. Air services provide for a large proportion of long distance passenger travel.

Road passenger vehicle activity

In the year ended 31 October 2007 Australia's 12 million registered passenger vehicles travelled an estimated 158 billion (b) km (table 24.13), each averaging 14,300 km per year. Around 508,600 motor cycles travelled 2 b km, while the fleet of just over 66,000 buses travelled 2 b km.

24.13 MOTOR VEHICLE USE, By state/territory of registration - 2007(a)
	Passenger vehicles	Motor cycles	Buses
TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED (mill. km)
New South Wales	47 771	^582	547
Victoria	44 037	^382	452
Queensland	30 954	*550	488
South Australia	10 684	^106	127
Western Australia	17 448	^195	^341
Tasmania	3 356	*39	43
Northern Territory	1 043	^18	63
Australian Capital Territory	2 635	^31	36
Australia	157 928	1 905	2 097
NUMBER OF VEHICLES(b)
New South Wales	3 470 965	132 787	17 403
Victoria	3 077 139	122 825	14 474
Queensland	2 237 720	124 518	15 417
South Australia	925 709	36 264	4 054
Western Australia	1 256 998	68 223	9 355
Tasmania	279 524	10 969	2 021
Northern Territory	76 111	4 408	2 621
Australian Capital Territory	195 048	8 632	984
Australia	11 519 214	508 626	66 330
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
(a) Year ended 31 October 2007.
(b) The average number of vehicles registered for the twelve months. Includes registered vehicles that did not travel during the year.
Source: ABS Survey of Motor Vehicle Use, Australia (9208.0).

Rail passenger activity

The passenger operations of rail operators are shown in table 24.14. Between 2005-06 and 2006-07 urban heavy rail and urban tram/light rail passenger journeys increased by 5% and 3% respectively, while total non-urban passenger journeys increased by 20%. Heavy rail accounted for 79% of urban rail passenger journeys in 2006-07.

24.14 RAIL PASSENGER OPERATIONS
	Urban
	Heavy rail	Tram and light rail	Total	Non-urban	Total
	mill. journeys	mill. journeys	mill. journeys	mill. journeys	mill. journeys
2005-06	501	133	634	9	643
2006-07	529	137	666	11	677
Source: Australasian Railway Association Inc.

Domestic air passenger activity

At 31 December 2008 four major domestic airlines operated in Australia - Qantas, Virgin Blue, Jetstar and Tiger Airways. Regional airlines such as Regional Express Airlines (REX), Brindabella Airlines, Northwest Regional Airlines and others provided connecting services to regional airports. There were 188 security regulated airports in Australia at the end of 2007.

Passenger departures were 7% higher in 2008, compared with 2007 (table 24.15), while the percentage of vacant seat-kilometres rose from 20% in 2007 to 22% in 2008. In 2008 domestic airlines accounted for 89% of total Australian domestic passenger departures, and regional airlines 11%.

24.15 DOMESTIC AIRLINE ACTIVITY
			2007	2008
Passenger departures(a)
	Domestic airlines	'000	40 919	44 135
	Regional airlines	'000	5 826	5 723
	Total	'000	46 745	49 857
Other activity (domestic airlines only)
	Revenue passenger-kilometres(b)	mill.	50 315	54 132
	Seat-kilometres available(c)	mill.	62 201	68 604
	Percentage of vacant seat-kilometres	%	20.1	22.1
(a) The unit of measurement is traffic on board (which includes transit traffic). Includes revenue passengers only.
(b) The sum for all flights of the number of revenue passengers travelling on each flight stage multiplied by the distance between airports.
(c) The sum for all flights of the number of seats available on each flight stage multiplied by the distance between airports.
Source: Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

The number of domestic passenger movements at the top 10 airports in Australia is shown in table 24.16. In 2008 all these principal airports recorded increases in passenger movements compared with 2007. The strongest growth was recorded in Darwin (17%), followed by Gold Coast (13%) and Hobart and Perth (both 10%). The lowest growth was recorded in Cairns (4%).

24.16 DOMESTIC PASSENGER MOVEMENTS(a), Top 10 Australian airports
	2007	2008
Airport	'000	'000
Sydney	21 801	22 700
Melbourne	18 271	19 990
Brisbane	14 107	14 705
Perth	6 108	6 708
Adelaide	5 963	6 316
Gold Coast	3 736	4 209
Cairns	3 304	3 434
Canberra	2 735	2 984
Hobart	1 664	1 831
Darwin	1 362	1 598
(a) The number of passengers on board arriving at or departing from each airport. Includes passengers in transit, who are counted as both arrivals and departures at airports through which they transit.
Source: Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

International air passenger activity

Passengers arriving or departing Australia primarily travel by air.

Of total international passengers (23 million) carried to and from Australia in 2008, 5 million travelled between Australia and New Zealand and 4 million travelled between Australia and Singapore (table 24.17).

24.17 SCHEDULED INTERNATIONAL PASSENGER TRAFFIC TO AND FROM AUSTRALIA - 2008
	Inbound	Outbound	Total
Country to/from	'000 passengers	'000 passengers	'000 passengers
Argentina	27.7	26.4	54.0
Brunei	74.1	73.0	147.2
Canada	74.9	76.3	151.2
Chile	38.7	42.3	81.0
China (excl. SARs & Taiwan)	344.9	319.0	663.9
Cook Islands	0.7	0.7	1.3
Fiji	301.1	292.5	593.6
Germany	54.3	54.7	109.1
Guam	11.3	11.3	22.5
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	1 026.0	943.0	1 969.0
India	31.2	27.8	59.0
Indonesia	408.9	415.6	824.5
Italy	1.6	1.4	3.0
Japan	629.6	624.0	1 253.6
Korea, Republic of (South)	244.2	239.8	484.0
Malaysia	571.0	574.1	1 145.1
Mauritius	37.3	34.0	71.3
Nauru	1.5	1.3	2.7
New Caledonia	74.4	74.5	148.9
New Zealand	2 567.3	2 566.1	5 113.3
Papua New Guinea	91.3	95.1	186.5
Philippines	97.9	92.5	190.4
Singapore	2 101.9	1 993.8	4 095.7
Solomon Islands	17.9	19.6	37.6
South Africa	137.8	120.8	258.7
Tahiti	17.9	18.9	36.8
Taiwan	113.4	112.9	226.3
Thailand	701.3	663.0	1 364.2
Tonga	11.5	11.1	22.6
United Kingdom	376.6	377.5	754.1
United Arab Emirates	640.6	626.8	1 267.4
United States of America	842.3	843.0	1 685.3
Vanuatu	65.2	65.0	130.2
Vietnam	126.6	128.3	255.0
Western Samoa	17.9	17.9	35.8
Total	11 881.1	11 584.1	23 465.3
Source: Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

Graph 24.18 shows the number of international passengers who travelled through each of Australia's international airports in 2008. Sydney's share of total international passenger traffic was 45%, followed by Melbourne (20%), Brisbane (17%) and Perth (11%).

Previous Page

Next Page