A record number of passengers has come through Orange Regional Airport in the last year, and council says it has a lot to do with a rise in tourism.

A report at last week's council meeting outlined that 8071 passengers used the airport in June this year, compared with 7308 in June 2022. This brings the total figure in the last financial year up to 91,552 passengers. More than 10,000 greater than the previous record of 79,240 in 2018-19.

Orange City Council Chair of the Infrastructure Committee and Airport Committee Jack Evans says that Orange has continued to grow as a tourist destination during these last few years.

“We’ve seen people from the east coast really get the taste for the region. And with our three airlines operating out of the airport, it’s made Orange really accessible to areas that have already had the taste, and they’ve really just jumped on that,” Cr Evans explained.

Qantas, REX, and Linked Airways all operate out of Orange Regional Airport, and include three capital cities in their destinations: Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. Cr Evans told Orange City Life that a lot of investment is going into the airport, in hopes to attract even more travellers, and set a good example for the region.

“We’ve got a lot of investment going out there, we’re getting a second aircraft refueling station, new LED lights, the staff out there have really worked hard to make it a great representation for our city,” he said.

“We’ve done a bit of work on the road getting out there, we got a decent sized grant from the state government just prior to the election to fix up some of the road.”

But next on the agenda is encouraging airlines to consider linking Orange with other regional destinations, says Mr Evans.

“The location we are working on at the minute is Newcastle, and trying to work on some numbers and statistics to get an Orange-Newcastle link opened up. Obviously it’s a nice drive, but to have the convenience of a flight would be really good.”

Orange might just be the next hot spot for regional air travel.