The doors are open for airlines to take off to more cities from Tamworth and the destination on top of a lot of wishlists is Melbourne.

The amount of airlines servicing Tamworth has quadrupled in just two years and if the airport adds another destination, that measure will have tripled in the same time.

While it’s all good to declare the airport open for business and how keen we’d be to link up with Melbourne or the Gold Coast, we must get a good deal.

With airlines competing on both of the current routes, it can still cost up to $100 more per ticket to travel to Tamworth from Sydney, compared to the NSW capital to Melbourne.

If you’re travelling in a group, especially a conference, the airfares will add-up quickly and cheaper destinations will probably win out.

The cheaper it is and the more frequent it is, the more locals will take advantage of it.

The opportunity to get away from Tamworth for a weekend to Melbourne or the Gold Coast with a cheap, quick flight would be a great option to have for a relatively isolated region, such as ours.

It may seem counter-intuitive but connectivity and the ability to travel somewhere else would be attractive for people looking to move to the city for a career.

With the coverage The Leader has given in the last 12 months to the struggle to recruit, particularly into our health ranks, there’s no doubting the importance of being an attractive region to move to.

The calls for airlines to add more destinations out of Tamworth is also about bringing people in, as well as letting us locals have a get-away.

The business chamber and a local travel agent have talked up the economic opportunities which could be tapped into through becoming a more reliable conference destination.

One three-day conference held in Tamworth could bring in a quick $200,000, according to some rough maths.

We’re apparently losing these opportunities to places like Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour at the moment.

It seems there is a lot to be gained from the Tamworth airport.

So if the opportunities are afforded to us, we should make sure we take it with both hands.