CANBERRA- Jetstar has gained a larger share of Australia’s growing travel market to Sri Lanka, capturing a significant portion of the increase in visitor arrivals during September 2026, while SriLankan Airlines (UL) recorded only modest growth despite expanding its Melbourne services. Data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) show that 10,951 Australian tourists visited the island during the month, with the growth coinciding with the first full month of Jetstar’s Melbourne-Colombo route.
The shift comes as Australian arrivals to Sri Lanka rose 20.3% year-on-year in September, making Australia the country’s third-largest source market for the month. Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines is considering a direct service to Perth, which would expand its Australian network beyond Melbourne and Sydney and provide another gateway for travellers visiting the island.
Jetstar Gains Market Share
Jetstar’s entry on the Melbourne-Colombo route appears to have changed the competitive balance among airlines carrying Australian visitors to Sri Lanka.
Although SLTDA does not list Jetstar separately in its airline breakdown, carriers outside its named list accounted for 18.78% of Australian arrivals in September, compared with just 0.92% in July.
The change coincided with arrivals departing from Melbourne increasing to 4,256 in September from 2,111 in July.
At the same time, arrivals routed through Singapore and Kuala Lumpur declined by 19.6% and 32.1%, respectively, suggesting that more travellers were using the new direct service rather than connecting through regional hubs.
Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines appear to have lost some traffic during the period. Their combined share of Australian arrivals fell from 40% in July to 28.5% in September, representing approximately 760 fewer passengers based on calculations reported by Mirror Business.
Jetstar’s commercial performance has also been encouraging.
The airline’s executive manager of commercial operations, Scott Zeglin, previously said the three-times-weekly service was operating at load factors above 90% in both directions, although he remained cautious about adding flights during the peak travel season.
SriLankan Faces Competition
SriLankan Airlines carried an estimated 4,720 Australian tourists in September, only slightly above the approximately 4,610 recorded in July.
Its market share fell from 47.55% to 43.11%, despite increasing Colombo-Melbourne frequencies from seven to 10 flights per week on August 2.
The airline’s September performance also remained below its position a year earlier. In September 2025, SriLankan carried around 5,080 Australian visitors, accounting for 55.83% of arrivals from the market, Daily Mirror reported.
Tourism data indicate that the recent increase has largely come from holidaymakers. Pleasure travel rose by approximately 1,210 visitors between July and September, accounting for nearly all of the 1,250 increase in Australian arrivals, while visits to friends and relatives remained broadly stable at around 3,300.
Although the statistics do not identify each passenger’s airline, the pattern suggests Jetstar is benefiting from leisure travel demand, while SriLankan continues to serve a substantial market of travellers visiting relatives and friends.
The airline has previously identified Melbourne’s large Sri Lankan community as an important source of demand.
Perth Route Under Study
SriLankan Airlines chief executive officer Vipul Misra has confirmed that the carrier is studying a direct route to Perth following demand identified during a recent roadshow conducted with Sri Lanka’s Tourism Ministry.
The airline would need additional aircraft capacity from external sources to operate the service.
A Perth route would give SriLankan a third Australian gateway, complementing its existing Melbourne and Sydney services. It could also provide more direct access for Western Australian travellers who currently connect through hubs such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or airports in the Gulf.
Misra said the national carrier must sometimes consider routes that private airlines might initially avoid because of their commercial risks. However, the Perth proposal remains under study, and the airline has not announced a launch date.
The route discussion comes as Sri Lanka steps up its tourism promotion efforts.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau is conducting a Rs. 1.5 billion digital and public relations campaign through April, with Australia among the priority markets for advertising on Meta, TikTok and YouTube, alongside tourism trade activities in Australia and New Zealand.
Jetstar’s early performance highlights the opportunity for direct services to attract Australian holidaymakers, while SriLankan’s proposed Perth expansion could broaden connectivity and competition in the market.
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