Townsville Airport has recorded its second busiest month ever, with a total of 161,774 passengers travelling through the terminal throughout the month of July.

The bumper month came incredibly close to the all-time record set in July 2018, falling short by just 57 passengers.

Townsville Airport General Manager Brendan Cook said the strong results told a positive story for the local tourism industry.

“This is the second busiest month Townsville Airport has ever recorded, we saw more passengers in July than we’ve ever seen over December, January, or even Easter,” Mr Cook said.

“These numbers tell us that Townsville is a destination travellers want to visit. Townsville Enterprise’s Up for Unexpected campaign has helped attract new visitors to the region by showcasing the fantastic tourism products we have to offer,” he said.

“New routes and services such as Bonza’s flights from Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Rockhampton have also boosted visitation and our team is in constant discussions with airlines to expand our network even further.”

“The addition of Bonza’s services has delivered more than 40,000 extra travellers since the first flight in February,” he said.

“July was also a particularly busy month for Defence due to Talisman Sabre and other associated training exercises. These events saw nearly 2,000 military personnel pass through Townsville Airport throughout the month.”

Passenger numbers for July were up by almost 9% on July last year.

More than 1.6million passengers travelled through Townsville Airport in FY22 – an increase of almost 40% when compared to FY21.

A total of 958,266 have travelled through Townsville Airport since January this year, almost 20% more than this time last year.