WARNING: Expect Flight Disruptions As Christmas Approaches

Australian travellers should brace for digital disruption as airports gear up for a record-breaking Christmas peak season.

Last Christmas, more than 5.8 million passengers passed through Sydney Airport, with millions more flooding through Melbourne and Brisbane.

New data warns that digital outages could cripple the nation’s travel networks just as the festive season takes off.

Research from PagerDuty’s 2025 Australian State of Service Report reveals that one in four Australians (25%) have experienced a travel or airline-related system failure in the past year, while nearly one in three (31%) anticipate outages will increase over the next 12 months.

With 77% of travellers worried about being stranded or locked out due to digital failures, both reliability and resilience are now paramount for travel providers.

This growing anxiety is prompting major shifts in consumer behaviour:

• 44% of Australians have changed how they book and plan trips, gravitating toward airlines and booking platforms with robust digital systems and flexible customer support
• Trust in airlines has dropped by 22% in the past year, highlighting the urgent need for sector-wide action as the Christmas rush looms.

“During peak season, travellers are less forgiving of digital downtime and expect instant updates when issues arise,” said Callum Eade, Vice President Asia Pacific, PagerDuty.

“This is a pivotal moment for the travel industry to step up, deliver reliability and build lasting trust.”