Labor confirms $55 million for Newcastle Airport's international expansion

The $55 million in funding for the upgrade and expansion of Newcastle Airport's international passenger terminal has been confirmed tonight in the Labor Government's 2022-2023 October budget.

Newcastle Airport CEO Dr Peter Cock said the confirmation is a huge win for the region.

“Naturally we are thrilled by the news out of today’s budget announcement, and I want to thank the Albanese Government for the faith it has shown in our region,” Dr Cock said.

“Not only does this ensure nothing holds our region back from its global potential, it helps Newcastle Airport to deliver on our promise of being the airport the region deserves.

“Coming on the back of the Government’s $66 million dollars funding for the airfield in May last year, the Federal Government has now invested a total of $121 million in our region’s international growth – an investment that has the potential to move us from a regional centre to a truly global city with more capacity to support and facilitate development throughout Northern NSW.”

Dr Cock acknowledged the efforts of stakeholders in achieving the funding for the terminal.

“I want to recognise and thank our local member, Meryl Swanson, for her tireless efforts to help achieve this great result for our community. The advocacy contributions of our shareholders, Port Stephens Council and City of Newcastle, together with other regional stakeholders, have also been instrumental.

“This is so much more than infrastructure – the expansion of Newcastle Airport’s passenger terminal will bring significant and lasting benefit to our community, and our region, for years to come.

“Our work to get Newcastle Airport international ready is already underway. Enabling works in our car parks are moving ahead, and construction of the new international terminal will be underway early next year.

“Conversations are also progressing with some of the world’s leading airlines. We recently attended the World Routes conference in the USA where we continued conversations with our key stakeholders across the tourism and aviation sector and started new ones. This follows successful delegations to Singapore and Vietnam earlier this year.

“Our ambition is to connect to a significant Asian or Middle Eastern hub by 2024,” Dr Cock said.

Newcastle Airport is on track to be international-ready by 2024 with both airfield and terminal works scheduled for completion early that year.

Over the next 20 years, the upgrade and expansion of the runway and terminal will strengthen the region with 850,000 additional visitors, over 4,000 new jobs, and approximately $12.7 billion in economic activity.