The airport recorded just shy of 12,800 passengers last month which is more than 3000 than for the same month in 2009.

It was the second biggest month in the history of the airport – and just 59 passengers short of equalling the record 12,855 set the previousmonth. March 2010 recorded the breakthrough figure of 12,000 for the first time in its 55-year history, with Qantas carrying 11,527 people and Brindabella another 1328.

The council’s business manager Michael Dubois said the latest results were on track to push the airport to its biggest ever year with passenger numbers set to top 125,000 and possibly 130,000.

He said the airport was set to see an increase of up to 12 per cent in passenger numbers through the terminal by the end of June.

The results reflected increased services and the take-up levels by passengers, he said.

“Obviously it shows that people want to fly and out of Tamworth and that if they get the services to do that, they will use them,” Mr Dubois said. “It also demonstrates that increased services often bring discounted airfares into the market and that would be another reason for the jump in passenger numbers.”

Last year saw 118,903 passengers through the airport, on top of the entry of Brindabella Airlines in May, 2009 with its Tamworth/Brisbane service, and the introduction of the bigger Qantaslink carrier, the Q400 on some flights from September 2008.

Before March this year, the airport’s highest flying benchmark was 11,000 – broken only for the first time in August last year, but cracked again in October with 11,644 and 11,128 in November.

Mr Dubois the increase is also the result of more regional passengers using Tamworth, from the tablelands to further west. He says the cost of driving, increased fuel prices, scheduling of flights, interconnecting flight times and cheap flights through advance ticket purchases and discounts was also putting more people into the air.

Qantaslink now operates five return flights a week day between Sydney and Tamworth, having introduced an additional early afternoon flight in March. Brindabella operates two flights in and out of Tamworth on weekdays but also added an additional Friday service in April to cater for demand.