Record busy year for domestic airports
June 1, 2011 - 10:45AM

Australia’s domestic airports had their busiest year ever last year as 60 million people flew around the country.

Passenger numbers grew by 7 per cent in 2010, following a year of no growth in 2009.

Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese was keen to link the growth to the government’s economic stimulus aimed at limiting the local impact of the global financial crisis.
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But there was no direct proof of the link in figures provided by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

Among the nation’s 10 biggest domestic airports, the Gold Coast recorded the fastest growth in the number of passengers transiting through it, up 10.5 per cent on the year before to more than 4.7 million.

The Gold Coast-Newcastle route was the nation’s fastest-growing with passenger numbers up by 26 per cent.

The busiest route remains Sydney-Melbourne with 7.9 million passengers flying between the two state capitals. Mr Albanese said domestic airports were important engines of economic growth.

They directly supported more than 50,000 jobs and contributed $4.9 billion a year to national income, he said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/record-busy-year-for-domestic-airports-20110601-1ffgn.html#ixzz1O17wTMxj