How Much Is a Flight to Australia? (2026 Data)

A round-trip ticket from the United States to Australia costs about $1,300¹ on average right now. February is the cheapest month, averaging $1,193¹, and December the most expensive at $1,696¹. Nonstop flights take between 10h 35m² from Honolulu and 17h 45m³ from Dallas/Fort Worth, 15h 30m⁴ on average across 11 nonstop routes, so this is one of the longest trips an American can book.

2.34 million⁵ passengers flew nonstop between the two countries in 2025, still well below the 3.32 million⁵ of 2019, and the first half of 2026 ran 2.1%⁴ ahead of 2025. Below: current fares by destination city, airport, airline, month and weekday, the taxes and charges inside every ticket, flight times, 36 years of official traffic data and the airports that carry it.

The average fare to Australia in 2026

Round trips from the US to Australia are averaging $1,300¹, about the same as around this time last year, counting every US departure airport and every Australian arrival airport together. The period behind that average is not stated, its cabin mix is not stated either, and it moves from week to week.¹ Typical round trips over the past 12 months cost from $1,085¹ to $1,754¹, so a fare at the low end of that range is cheaper than most seen this year.¹

Single deals go much lower. The cheapest one-way ticket found in the 72 hours before November 6, 2026 was $467¹, Los Angeles to Sydney with one stop for a departure on January 30; that is a single fare, not an average, and it shows how far below the typical price a well-timed deal can go.¹ Itineraries with a connection can also cost less than nonstop flights: through Nadi in Fiji they averaged $873¹ round trip and through Manila $1,165¹.¹

The airline matters as much as the date. Over the past 12 months the cheapest airline to Australia was Fiji Airways, at an average of $818¹ round trip, followed by Air Canada at $1,210¹ and Alaska Airlines at $1,223¹; Qantas averaged $1,336¹ and American Airlines $1,354¹.¹

How much is a flight to Sydney, Australia?

The fare page shows one deal card per city with the cheapest round-trip prices its users found in the last five days.¹ On November 6, 2026 the Sydney card offered a round trip from $823¹ per person with one stop, the lowest of the 17¹ cities shown, ahead of Brisbane at $861¹ and Melbourne at $868¹. Perth, with two stops, was at $1,073¹, and the highest cards were for small airports such as Mackay at $3,953¹. Each card is one example flight, not the average fare to that city.¹

Sydney is also where most travelers go. It drew 53%¹ of interest in flights to Australia over the past three months, and its airport handled 62.4%⁴ of all passengers on nonstop US-Australia flights in 2025.⁵

Perth is on the far side of the continent from the US and has no nonstop flight from America, so its card is a two-stop trip.¹ Averaged over the past 12 months rather than taken from a single deal, the three main arrival airports are close: Brisbane was the cheapest at $1,296¹, then Melbourne at $1,301¹ and Sydney at $1,327¹, only $31⁴ apart. Adelaide ($1,417¹), Melbourne's Avalon airport ($1,426¹) and the Gold Coast ($1,436¹) cost more.¹

The price also depends on when you go, and the calendar swings it far more than the arrival airport.

The cheapest time to fly to Australia

February has the lowest average round trip of the year, $1,193¹. December is the most expensive month at $1,696¹, followed by October at $1,405¹ and July at $1,391¹; December is the Christmas and summer-holiday month in Australia. The December average is $503⁴ above February's, 1.42⁴ times as much.¹

These monthly figures are averages of the past 12 months' prices with extreme outliers removed, a different set of prices from the $1,300¹ headline average.¹ Quiet months are not always cheap: October is the low season, with about 21%¹ fewer travelers than average, yet it has the second highest fares, while January, the high season, has about 40%¹ more travelers.¹

The weekday matters less. Tuesday is the cheapest day to fly, at $1,396¹ on average, and Thursday the most expensive at $1,474¹, about 5%¹ apart.¹ The time of day matters more: night departures averaged $1,227¹ and evening departures $1,494¹, a gap of $267⁴.¹ These day and time averages come from another part of the price data than the monthly figures; within each row, the ranking is what counts.

Booking time has a clear effect too. The lowest fares turned up about 7¹ weeks before departure, and tickets booked then averaged 6%¹ less than last-minute ones bought within two weeks of the flight.¹ For a December trip, when fares are at their highest, that means booking by mid-October.

How long the flight takes

Eleven nonstop routes link the US and Australia. The shortest by far is Honolulu to Sydney, 10h 35m². From the mainland, Los Angeles to Brisbane is the quickest at 14h 10m⁶, followed by San Francisco to Brisbane at 14h 25m⁷; San Francisco to Sydney takes 14h 55m⁸ and Los Angeles to Sydney 15h 00m⁹. Melbourne is further: 15h 40m¹⁰ from Los Angeles and 15h 55m¹¹ from San Francisco.

The Texas routes are the longest. Dallas/Fort Worth to Brisbane is scheduled at 17h 15m¹², Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney at 17h 25m¹³, Houston to Sydney at 17h 30m¹⁴ and Dallas/Fort Worth to Melbourne at 17h 45m³, the longest of all; the Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth-Brisbane flights are seasonal and returned on October 24, 2026. That puts the average flight time to Australia across the 11 routes at 15h 30m⁴, with 7h 10m⁴ between the shortest and the longest. Times shift slightly with the seasons: in the timetable before October 25, 2026, Los Angeles to Brisbane was scheduled at 13h 50m⁶ and Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney at 17h 00m¹³.

About 120¹ nonstop flights a week are scheduled from the US to Australia over the next three months, spread evenly through the week at around 18¹ on the busiest days.¹ The Los Angeles flights land in the morning two calendar days after they leave, because they cross the International Date Line.⁹ Around 22%¹ of flights to Australia are delayed by at least 15 minutes, by 2h 16m¹ on average.¹ A late-evening departure and the date change mean the first day in Australia is often lost to jet lag, which is worth counting when a cheap fare shortens the trip.

Taxes and fees inside an Australia ticket

Every round trip from the US to Australia carries a layer of government charges that no sale can remove. On the US side, the international transportation tax is $23.40¹⁵ on departure and again on arrival in 2026, rising to $24.10¹⁶ each in 2027. Added to it are the September 11 security fee of $5.60¹⁷, the customs arrival fee of $7.61¹⁸, in force since October 1, 2026, the immigration user fee of $7.00¹⁹ and the agricultural inspection fee of $3.98²⁰ for tickets bought since October 1, 2026: $70.99⁴ in federal taxes and fees in 2026. The security fee is charged per one-way trip that starts at a US airport, so a US-Australia-US round trip pays it once, on the way out.¹⁷ With the passenger facility charge of up to $4.50²¹ at the US departure airport (one US boarding on a nonstop round trip, since the return starts abroad), US government charges come to $75.49⁴ in 2026 and $76.89⁴ in 2027.²¹²²

Australia adds its Passenger Movement Charge, paid by everyone aged 12 and over who leaves the country by air or sea. It is A$70²³ now, about $49.27⁴ at the October 30, 2026 rate of 0.7038²⁵ US dollars per Australian dollar. The 2026-27 Budget raises it by A$10 to A$80²³, about $56.30⁴, for departures from January 1, 2027, but the bill that makes the change was still before Parliament in November 2026, with no royal assent recorded.²⁴ Under the bill, tickets sold on or before the day it becomes law keep the A$70 rate for departures up to June 30, 2028.²⁴

Together the charges, including the US passenger facility charge, come to $124.76⁴ per round trip for travel in 2026. For travel in 2027 they come to $126.16⁴ at the A$70 charge and $133.19⁴ if the A$80 charge applies. That is 9.6%⁴ of the $1,300¹ average fare today, and for four adults the government charges alone reach $499.04⁴. Children under 12 do not pay the Australian charge.

Airline fuel surcharges and other airport fees are extra and are not included in this total.

How many people fly between the US and Australia

2,339,171⁵ passengers flew nonstop between US and Australian airports in 2025, counting both directions and all nationalities. That is 70.4%⁴ of the 3,322,409⁵ of 2019, the all-time high, and 106.2%⁴ of the 2010 level. In 2021 the route carried only 100,778⁵ people, 3.0%⁴ of 2019, while Australia's border was closed.⁵

Over 36 years the market has grown steadily, from 902,817⁵ passengers in 1990 to the 2019 peak, with dips after 2000 and in 2008. The recovery since the reopening has been gradual: 2.21 million⁵ in 2023, 2.24 million⁵ in 2024 and 2.34 million⁵ in 2025, still 983,238⁴ passengers short of 2019.⁵ A straight line fitted to 1990-2025 without the pandemic years reaches about 4.75 million⁴ passengers by 2050; it is our calculation, not a forecast.

Flights have come back faster than passengers. There were 10,679²⁶ nonstop passenger flights (scheduled) in 2025, about 29⁴ a day across both directions, 85.0%⁴ of the 2019 count, so flights are 15.0%⁴ below 2019 and passengers 29.6%⁴ below.²⁶ The difference shows up in the planes: the average scheduled passenger flight carried 219⁴ passengers in 2025, against 264⁴ in 2019 and 224⁴ in 1990.⁵ The newest route, Houston to Sydney, was launched with a 252²⁷-seat Boeing 787-9.²⁷

The busiest and quietest months

Traffic peaks in the southern summer. January 2025 was the busiest month, with 264,211⁵ passengers, and August the quietest, with 169,845⁵; January carried 1.56⁴ times as many. December and January together accounted for 22.0%⁴ of the year's traffic.⁵ The recovery is uneven through the year: January reached 83.8%⁴ of its 2019 level and December 85.9%⁴, but May only 60.2%⁴, and June to September stayed between 61.7%⁴ and 64.3%⁴. Most of the missing passengers are in the Australian autumn and winter.⁵

Flights follow the same calendar, but the schedule has recovered further than the passenger count. In 2025 there were 1,123²⁶ passenger flights (scheduled) in December and 1,092²⁶ in January, against 776²⁶ in September, the fewest of the year. February was back to 99.5%⁴ of its 2019 flights and December to 99.7%⁴, while June was at 76.8%⁴ and September at 74.8%⁴.²⁶ The southern-summer schedule is close to its old size; the winter schedule is still about a quarter smaller.

The recovery also differs sharply by airport. Two US gateways are already above their 2019 traffic while the largest ones are far below it.⁵

The first half of 2026

The newest official months show traffic edging up again. From January to June 2026, 1,228,118⁵ passengers flew nonstop between the US and Australia, 2.1%⁴ more than the 1,202,448⁵ of the same months of 2025 and 74.0%⁴ of the first half of 2019.⁵ March was up most, by 14.8%⁴, while February was 3.8%⁴ lower than a year earlier and April to June were flat.⁵

The gateways moved in opposite directions. Los Angeles carried 633,863⁵ passengers to and from Australia in the first half of 2026, up 6.4%⁴, and Dallas/Fort Worth 178,233⁵, up 27.1%⁴, while Honolulu fell to 127,598⁵, 27.0%⁴ fewer than a year earlier.⁵ The airline mix changed too: Jetstar and Hawaiian Airlines reported no US-Australia passengers in the first half of 2026, while Alaska Airlines, with none a year earlier, reported 54,171⁵.⁵

Gateways and airports

Los Angeles is the main door to Australia. It handled 1,172,479⁵ nonstop passengers in 2025, 50.1%⁴ of the total, ahead of San Francisco with 503,084⁵, Honolulu with 320,930⁵, Dallas/Fort Worth with 288,410⁵ and Houston with 54,068⁵. These five airports carried 99.99%⁴ of all passengers.⁵ Los Angeles also has the most flights: 4,923²⁶ passenger flights (scheduled) in 2025, 46.1%⁴ of the total.²⁶

The map of gateways has shifted since 2019. San Francisco is up to 114.2%⁴ of its 2019 traffic and Dallas/Fort Worth to 128.9%⁴, while Los Angeles is at 60.2%⁴, Honolulu at 53.5%⁴ and Houston at 49.2%⁴.⁵ The current schedule keeps Los Angeles far ahead: over the next three months it offers about 55¹ nonstop departures a week to Australia, against 29¹ from San Francisco, 18¹ from Dallas/Fort Worth, 11¹ from Honolulu and 7¹ from Houston.¹

Counted in passenger flights (scheduled) rather than passengers, the shift is sharper. San Francisco had 2,444²⁶ flights to and from Australia in 2025, 1.33⁴ times its 1,842²⁶ of 2019, and Dallas/Fort Worth had 1,375²⁶, 2.19⁴ times its 627²⁶ of 2019. Los Angeles fell from 7,089²⁶ flights in 2019 to 4,923²⁶, 69.4%⁴ of its old count, and Honolulu from 2,482²⁶ to 1,632²⁶, or 65.8%⁴.²⁶

The busiest routes

Los Angeles-Sydney is by far the busiest route, with 756,357⁵ passengers in 2025, 32.3%⁴ of all US-Australia traffic, though down from 965,671⁵ in 2019. Honolulu-Sydney is second with 264,925⁵, just ahead of Los Angeles-Melbourne with 258,787⁵, which has fallen to 42.7%⁴ of its 606,118⁵ of 2019.⁵ The San Francisco routes grew instead: San Francisco-Melbourne rose from 92,087⁵ passengers in 2019 to 143,939⁵, and San Francisco-Brisbane, with only 227⁵ in 2019, carried 127,522⁵ in 2025.⁵

How much is a flight from New York to Australia?

There is no scheduled nonstop flight from New York to Australia, so a trip from the East Coast means a connection.⁵ The country-wide average of $1,300¹ covers every US departure airport, including the connecting ones, so it is the best single guide for a New York trip too; the gateway leg adds hours rather than a fixed surcharge.¹ It is worth comparing a through ticket with a separate domestic flight to Los Angeles, which has the most departures to Australia.

Where the flights land

On the Australian side, Sydney took 1,460,014⁵ nonstop passengers from and to the US in 2025, 62.4%⁴ of the total. Melbourne had 534,258⁵ and Brisbane 340,964⁵; the three carried almost 100.0%⁴ of all traffic, and Adelaide, with 3,197⁵, was the only other airport above a thousand.⁵ Sydney is at 69.7%⁴ of its 2019 level, Melbourne at 68.3%⁴ and Brisbane at 76.4%⁴, the strongest recovery of the three.

By state, the pattern is even more concentrated. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland take almost every passenger. Adelaide gained scheduled United service from San Francisco in December 2025, with 3,168⁵ passengers that month, which puts South Australia next. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory saw only a few hundred passengers on occasional flights and charters, and no nonstop US passengers were recorded to Western Australia or Tasmania in 2025.⁵ Travelers heading to Perth, Hobart or Darwin connect in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Traveler interest follows the same order: over the past three months Sydney drew 53%¹ of interest in flights to Australia, Melbourne 22%¹, Brisbane 13%¹ and Perth 5%¹; Adelaide drew 2%¹, and all cities beyond the top four together 7%⁴.¹

The airlines

Qantas operated the most passenger flights (scheduled) between the US and Australia in 2025, 4,273²⁶ in both directions, ahead of United with 3,603²⁶, American with 1,022²⁶, Delta with 989²⁶, Hawaiian with 518²⁶ and Jetstar with 274²⁶.²⁶ United has flown nonstop to Australia from its West Coast hubs since 1986²⁷ and added Houston in 2018.²⁷ In the schedule for the next three months, United has the most nonstop flights a week, about 47¹, ahead of Qantas with 39¹, Delta with 16¹, American with 14¹ and Alaska Airlines with 6¹.¹

Counted by passengers actually carried, Qantas is the largest airline on the route, with 979,213⁵ passengers in 2025, 41.9%⁴ of the total, down from 1,479,556⁵ in 2019. United added the most passengers (+195,099⁴): 715,939⁵ in 2025, 137.5%⁴ of its 2019 count. American (241,704⁵) and Delta (226,939⁵) are also above 2019, while Jetstar fell to 77,592⁵ and Virgin Australia, with 508,562⁵ passengers in 2019, carried none on the route from 2023 to 2025.⁵

Two kinds of flight count appear on this page. Operated passenger flights (scheduled) in 2025 come from the official traffic data; weekly nonstop counts come from the fare-search site's schedule for the next three months, and its airline counts can include flights sold under a partner's flight number.¹

What these numbers mean for your trip

For a family of four, the season is the biggest lever.¹ At the February average of $1,193¹ against the December average of $1,696¹, four tickets differ by about $2,012⁴. If all four are aged 12 or over, roughly $499.04⁴ of the bill is government charges that no sale touches. In 2027 the higher US tax adds $1.40⁴ per person, and the proposed Australian increase would add another $7.03⁴.¹⁶²⁴

The route matters less than the date. Los Angeles has the most flights,²⁶ and the three main arrival airports average within $31⁴ of each other over the year, against a $503⁴ gap between February and December.¹ Travelers from the East Coast face a connection in any case, so a cheap domestic flight to Los Angeles plus a separate ticket can beat a through fare, at the cost of the protection a single ticket gives if a flight is late.

Demand is still below 2019, most of all in the Australian autumn and winter: January 2025 traffic was at 83.8%⁴ of its 2019 level and May at 60.2%⁴.⁵ Quieter months do not mean cheaper tickets, though: October, the month with the fewest travelers, has the second highest average fare.¹

How Australia compares with other destinations

Measured the same way, by the headline average on each destination's fare page, Australia's $1,300¹ is the joint highest of the long-haul trips compared, level with Israel ($1,300²⁸).¹ China ($1,265²⁹) is $35⁴ cheaper and New Zealand ($1,198³⁰) $102⁴ cheaper. Italy, at $873³¹, costs $427⁴ less, and Mexico is the cheapest at $522³²: a trip to Australia costs 2.49⁴ times as much.

Conclusions

1. Timing moves the fare most. The December average of $1,696¹ is 1.42⁴ times February's $1,193¹, and the lowest fares come about 7¹ weeks before departure.
2. Sydney dominates. It took 62.4%⁴ of nonstop US-Australia passengers in 2025 and 53%¹ of traveler interest.
3. The market has not fully recovered. Nonstop passengers were 70.4%⁴ of 2019 in 2025, while passenger flights (scheduled) were at 85.0%⁴; the first half of 2026 added 2.1%⁴.
4. The gateways have shifted. San Francisco and Dallas/Fort Worth are above 2019 at 114.2%⁴ and 128.9%⁴, while Los Angeles, still the largest, is at 60.2%⁴.
5. A fixed $124.76⁴ per ticket is government charges in 2026, including the US passenger facility charge. It rises to $126.16⁴ in 2027, or $133.19⁴ if Australia's departure charge goes up to A$80²³.²⁴