Competition -- fuelled by budget-priced air fares -- has helped Mackay Airport achieve a passenger milestone, with more than half a million people passing through the city’s airport last year.

Mackay Airport processed 505 762 passengers last year – an increase of 26.5 per cent on the previous year.

The airport is operated by the Mackay Port Authority.

Airport general manager Trevor Heard said Mackay Airport was on target to handle a record 575 000 passengers this financial year.

“Passenger growth in Mackay has been outstanding – considering three years ago the airport was struggling to process 270 000 passengers,” Mr Heard said.

“It once again reinforces that affordable air fares increase air travel. People who previously travelled by coach, car or by rail, or decided not to travel at all because it was too expensive, are now flying.”    

“The boom in air travel is directly linked to the introduction of Virgin Blue in November 2001 and that’s accelerated again since Jetstar started operating in May last year. There have been consistent increases of more than 20 per cent over the past three years.”

“It is difficult to benchmark airports – but the Sunshine Coast Airport, that has a bigger catchment area than Mackay and is a bigger player when it comes to tourism, also broke the half a million passenger barrier last year.”

Mr Heard said the Mackay Port Authority was continuing to negotiate with the major airlines in a bid to attract new services.

Mr Heard was hopeful Jetstar would introduce a daily direct service to Sydney by Easter. The airline currently operates four services to Sydney a week.

A direct Mackay-Melbourne service was also on the radar.

“We also haven’t given up on a direct Mackay-Auckland service,” he said.

Passenger stats for Mackay.

2001 – 269 598
2002 – 332 097 --- increase of 23.2 per cent
2003 – 399 877 --  20.4 per cent 
2004 – 505 762 –   26.5 per cent.