Virgin Australia begins flights on May 25 between Tamworth and Sydney, which has meant new check-in counters and expansion of the carousel and baggage area.

Welcoming the airline on the new route means Virgin will have two check-in counters and QantasLink will also have two, with an overflow counter each with common counters being used by JetGo on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when they operate to and from Tamworth.

Tamworth airport manager Julie Stewart said, with more airlines flying in and more luggage being carried, the old baggage carousel was too small.

“The new carousel is double the capacity of the old carousel and can carry up to 70 bags,” she said.

Once the check-in counters are completed, the terminal will be ready to welcome Virgin with Tamworth then having three commercial airlines flying in and out of the city as of May 25.

“Virgin has already got all their IT here and the ground handlers are in training,” Ms Stewart said.

All three airlines will have their signage in place by next week.

Ms Stewart said there were no other airlines looking at Tamworth at the moment.

“We are pretty much at capacity, unless airlines at looking at new routes,” she said.