Dubbo Airport has seen a steady increase in passenger numbers over the last 12 months, with March figures reaching the highest level since November 2019.
A total of 17,729 passengers passed through the terminal during the month of March.
"These figures mean that business is well and truly back to normal in terms of local air travel following the COVID-19 pandemic," Mayor of Dubbo Regional Council Mathew Dickerson said.
The Dubbo-Sydney route saw a particularly strong performance, thanks in part to QantasLink adding extra capacity to the route through the increased use of their Dash 8 Q400 plane, which has a capacity 48 per cent larger than their Q300 model.
"The use of the Q400 on a majority of the flights on the Dubbo-Sydney route has given the numbers a huge boost, compared to 2019 when approximately half of the flights were being conducted on the Q300 model," Clr Dickerson said.
The additional capacity has been taken up enthusiastically by the market, indicating a latent demand, with numbers in March 2023 up 31.8 per cent when compared to March 2022.
This is a strong indicator of demand in the market as normally when capacity is increased, load factor drops and instead load factor has increased concurrently.
Dubbo Regional Airport provides direct return services between Dubbo and Sydney; Brisbane; Melbourne; Broken Hill; Bourke; Walgett; Brisbane and Lighting Ridge.
The growth in passenger numbers is notable in that it has continued to trend upwards despite the recent loss of Fly Pelican's Newcastle and Ballina services.
The airport is serviced by Regional Express (Rex), QantasLink, Link Airways and Air Link.
