Following a visitor surge during Lunar New Year 2026, airlines are boosting their flight schedules for the 2027 holiday period.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows international visitation to Australia surpassed pre-pandemic levels in February 2026, led by Lunar New Year arrivals from China.
A total of 943,220 trips to Australia were recorded, an increase of 155,450 (19.7 per cent) year-on-year. China was the largest source country for Australia, accounting for 23.3 per cent of all visitor arrivals (220,170 trips).
China also led arrivals for NSW at 94,980, compared to 81,090 in February 2019.
Lunar New Year is celebrated by more than one billion people across the world each year, particularly in countries such as China, South Korea and Vietnam.
The festival is also embraced by almost two million Australians who identify with Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Malaysian or Singaporean heritage.
During the 2026 Lunar New Year period, ANZ projected its customers would spend $5.4 billion, rising by 5.4 per cent year-on-year.
In 2027, Lunar New Year’s Eve falls on 5 February, welcoming the year of the Fire Goat.
At Sydney Airport, 226,000 seats will be added to Shanghai-Sydney and Guangzhou-Sydney routes alone over the upcoming summer peak and Chinese New Year travel period.
China Eastern Airlines’ Sydney–Shanghai service will increase to three flights daily from 11 December 2026 to 15 February 2027.
China Southern Airlines' Sydney–Guangzhou service will increasing from two to three daily flights from 25 October 2026, before ramping up to four flights daily between 1 December 2026 and 28 February 2027.
Air China will increase its Beijing-Sydney service from five weekly flights to daily from October 2026, before increasing to double daily during the Lunar New Year peak in January and February.
China Airlines will increase its Taipei-Sydney service from five weekly flights to daily from 25 October, making Sydney Airport the only airport in Oceania with a China Airlines service every day of the week.
In Western Sydney, Vietjet Air (Vietjet) will fly into Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) from January 2027, just in time for Lunar New Year. Vietjet will operate two weekly services on the Ho Chi Minh City-Western Sydney route.
