The Williamtown hub welcomed 1,276,463 people passing through, up almost 60,000 compared to the year before. Chief executive Peter Cock said the figure reflected a 4.9 per cent increase year-on-year, which he attributed to a strong mix of leisure and business travel. 

“This is a significant achievement and proof of the importance of Newcastle Airport as a significant economic enabler for our region,” Dr Cock said. “We are excited about the groundswell of support shown by our travelling community, and want to let people know we will continue to advocate and work with our airline partners for increased connectivity to and from Newcastle Airport.” 

The results follow the announcement of FlyPelican flying directly between the Hunter and Adelaide, a service due to begin in March. 

That service has been hailed as a step towards international flights, offering a greater flexibility of destinations and points of origin among travellers considering Newcastle. 

The airport also took out 18 of 31 categories among participating airports in Australia and New Zealand in the Airport Service Quality survey, which benchmarks passenger experience. Newcastle won out in overall satisfaction, check-in, navigation, airport facilities, cleanliness and security categories. 

Dr Cock hailed the result as a “huge achievement for all airport staff, tenants and stakeholders”.