Half of Australians think that the Government should support low-cost airlines

The history of Australian aviation includes around 300 defunct airlines in the last century, with regional budget airline, Bonza, being the most recent to enter administration.

New YouGov Public Data has found that 50% of Australians believe that the Australian Federal Government should support low-cost airlines to enable a competitive market and to keep air travel accessible to more Australians.

The Greens are the most likely to be in favour of this Government assistance, supported by 57% of voters. This suggestion was also supported by a majority (53%) of Labor voters.

Less than half, (45%), of Coalition voters were in favour of this proposal.

Within the past five years, along with Bonza, other well-known airlines have closed their terminals, such as Tigerair, Fly Corporate and Pacific Air Express.

23% of Australians have flown via one of these airlines in the past five years, 14% on Tigerair alone.

77% of Australians have also stated that cost is in their top two most important factors when flying, making it clear that the population think cost-effective flights need to be here to stay.

50% of Australians even ranked cost as the number one most important factor.

After price, 18% ranked reputation as top-most important. This was followed by landing and departure time, ranked top by 13%, tied with the preference for an Australian airline.

Methodology: This survey was conducted between 31 May and 4 June 2024 with a sample of 1500. Results are weighted to be representative of the population by age, gender, education, AEC region, household income, weighting by past vote (Federal vote and Voice referendum), with an effective margin of error of 3.2%. See Australian Polling Council methodology statement for full weightings.

YouGov correctly predicted the result of the recent referendum at 40% Yes, 60% No, and is a founding member of the Australian Polling Council, as well as a global leader in polling research. We are the only polling company to have polled our entire panel of survey participants to ensure our polls are representative of how Australians vote in the Voice referendum.