Nearly 14,000 Western Australian are estimated to have travelled to Melbourne for last month’s AFL grand final, and from the tumbleweeds blowing down the terrace it’s safe to assume a lot of those were business people.
Passionate West Coast Eagles supporters who flew to Melbourne for the game created record domestic passenger numbers.
To cope with the increased demand, Qantas provided 17 additional flights and Virgin Blue an extra five flights to Melbourne.
But once tickets, flights and accommodation are factored in, it was no cheap trip, and could be considered yet another example of the rewards Western Australians are treating themselves to amid a booming economy.
Perth Airport was a hive of activity in September with 613,196 passengers travelling through the terminals. This beats the previous record month by almost 20,000 passengers.
International passenger numbers are also breaking records with just fewer than 173,000 travellers in September 2005, a 19 per cent increase on September 2004 figures.
