Launceston Airport has surpassed pre-pandemic passenger numbers, with a record-breaking 1,423,947 people travelling through the terminal in the last financial year.
Treasurer Michael Ferguson hailed the surge as a “huge success” and said it bodes well for tourism operators and local businesses in Northern Tasmania.
“It’s great to see Launceston Airport celebrating a record-breaking year joining just a few airports around Australia bouncing back from the quieter years during the pandemic,” he said.
Airport CEO Shane O’Hare said the results are a culmination of years of post-pandemic work by the airport, Tourism Tasmania and the state government.
“These results don’t happen in a vacuum, we have worked incredibly hard since the pandemic … to open up new destinations as well as attracting tourists from Australia and further abroad to Tasmania,” he said.
“We know Tasmanians want direct access to our mainland capital cities and since the pandemic we’ve doubled direct services out of Launceston Airport to deliver better access for both our passengers and our local exporters.”
O’Hare said the airport’s recovery was one of the quickest in the country, with August 2023 marking the first month they exceeded pre-pandemic passenger volumes.
The airport’s busiest day was also recorded on December 22nd, with 5,954 passengers arriving or departing.
“Exceeding 1.4 million passengers in a financial year is incredibly positive for us and the state and to do it in this current climate is truly remarkable,” he said.
“Tourism Tasmania’s ‘Off Season’ campaign has been instrumental in driving this growth, enticing people to Tassie to become ‘winter people’ in what would traditionally be low patronage months.”
The jump in numbers was also boosted by now-defunct airline Bonza, which flew from Launceston to the Sunshine Coast before it collapsed.
