15 August 2008
New figures show that more people are flying in and out of Tamworth than ever before.
Statistics compiled by Tamworth Regional Council show nearly 6,500 more passengers used the regional airport last year than in the previous 12 months.
And AgQuip might be Gunnedah's top tourist generator when it comes to agri-economics but it's also a high flying success story for Tamworth too.
The busiest month of the year for the Tamworth Regional Airport was August - and the top spot in the calendar year for passenger numbers flying into the city is obviously an AgQuip spinoff.
The airport is a major gateway to the region and the latest figures show that more people are flying into Tamworth - to get to other local and regional destinations too.
Passenger numbers up to June 30 this year show nearly 109,000 people flew into and out of the airport via Qantaslink and Aeropelican flights. That's a rise of over six percent on the 06/07 figures.
The biggest increase was in August last year, followed by January which had the next biggest jump in passengers.
TRC Business Manager Michael Dubois attributes the flight fever last August to more visitors for AgQuip. About 9650 people flew via Tamworth in August - about 300 more than in the next best month of the business year, May. November was the third busiest month.
Mr Dubois says that in the previous year the best months were November, June and May in that order of most passengers. The least busiest month for the airport was December.
He says the cost of driving and increased fuel prices, the scheduling of flights and interconnecting flight times, and the ease of flying, are all making it more attractive to fly. He says cheap flights through advance ticket purchases and discounts is also putting more people into the air.
The news for flyers is about to get better too. The airport will see the arrival of the new, bigger Q400 carrier on Qantaslink services between Sydney and Tamworth from next month. It will mean an increase in passenger capacity - about 25% over the year - when the 72-seater Q400 flies more of the flights serviced up till now by the 50-seater Dash 8 300 aircraft.
It will also cut the 50minute flight time to 35minutes. The new aircraft is expected to start around September 22.