While the nation’s country music capital has seen a rise and fall in passenger numbers over the last several financial years; Armidale has stayed miles ahead with positive growth each year for the same period. 

Armidale Regional Council Administrator Ian Tiley said the data was a reflection that the regional city was “on the move”.

“I think it is partly due to the fact that Armidale Regional Airport draws passengers from a very broad area,” he said.

“We get travellers from places like Inverell, Tenterfield, Glen Innes and Guyra … so it’s much bigger than just the Armidale environment.”

Inverell’s Windsong Travel Manager Jess Van Der Merwe said Armidale had “always” been more popular than Tamworth.

“We sell more return flights between Armidale and Sydney … Armidale has always been more popular,” she said.

A report by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development into domestic aviation activity in December 2016 revealed Armidale and Tamworth were sitting among the top 50 regional airports in Australia with Tamworth at 29 and Armidale at 35.

Almost 130,000 passengers flew out of Armidale between 2015 and 2016 – a jump of 3.9 per cent from the previous financial year.

“There’s more people flying here for business and with the introduction of Fly Corporate and Rex we’ve got more choice,” Mr Tiley said.

Armidale Regional Airport Manager Tim Weeks said Armidale airport had also seen steady compound passenger growth of five per cent per year for the past 10 years.

“In the past three years the airport experienced 20 per cent growth,” Mr Weeks said.

Despite some turbulent figures, Tamworth Regional Airport is also still ahead with an estimated 25 per cent increase in the past five years – partly attributed to a strong tourism market, Tamworth Regional Council Economic Development Coordinator Kate Baker said.

“This growth can be attributed to our strong tourism market and solid future planning for our region,” she said.