Newcastle Airport is buckled up in anticipation of its busiest weekend since 2019. Over 5000 additional passengers are expected during this week for the season opener of the Repco Supercars Championship, the Thrifty Newcastle 500 Supercars event coming up 10 to 12 March 2023.
Virgin Australia, the Supercars official airline partner has added 13 flights to help fans get to the first event since 2019.
Newcastle Airport CEO, Dr. Peter Cock, said the airport plays an important role in connecting visitors to the region.
“Newcastle and the Greater Hunter region is a major tourism destination for world-class events, like Supercars.
“Over 4500 additional seats have been made available through Newcastle Airport with Virgin Australia between Newcastle and Brisbane and Melbourne on top of our normal schedule of over 13 flights,” he said.
Newcastle Airport recorded its highest-ever passenger throughput on the day before the inaugural Newcastle 500 in 2018, with close to 5,000 passengers travelling through the terminal and more than 21,000 passengers through the airport that week. 2019 saw similar numbers, and this year Newcastle Airport is hoping to break this record.
“We’re proud to be able to connect visitors with exciting world-class events like Supercars and hope to smash the passenger record we set in 2018,” said Dr Cock.
“More flights and more visitors to our region has far-reaching benefits on the local economy.”
Newcastle Airport connects Supercar fans to more of the Supercar action throughout the year with direct flights to Adelaide, Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Sydney.
Additional flights from Wednesday 8 March – Tuesday 14 March:
Melbourne -10 additional services
Brisbane - 3 additional services