Passenger numbers through Newcastle Airport dropped by about seven per cent in September compared with the same time last year, according to new data.
The airport’s monthly figures, released this week, showed 102,734 passengers used the Williamtown facility in September, with the year-to-date total down by 0.8 per cent compared with the first nine months of 2017.
It comes after the airport recorded a 2.1 per cent increase in passenger numbers year-on-year for August, with 104,268 people using the airport.
The September results were the largest drop since January, when 4.4 per cent fewer passengers used the airport than the same time the previous year.
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Newcastle Airport needs another 10,172 people to use the facility in the final quarter of 2018 in order to meet the 2017 total of 1,276,463.
The airport will begin its flights to Auckland on November 22, with three flights a week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The New Zealand connection will run until February 17.
