Newcastle Airport is north of Newcastle, New South Wales ( by road) in Port Stephens. It is the 13th busiest airport in Australia, handling over 1.25 million passengers in the year ended 30 June 2017, an increase of 6.6% on the previous year. The airport occupies a site on the southern border of RAAF Base Williamtown. Overview The airport is jointly owned by Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Council, and managed by Newcastle Airport Pty Ltd. The airport and associated developments support over 3,300 jobs and contributed $1.19 billion to the economy of the lower Hunter Region in 2015. The airport runway is owned by RAAF Base Williamtown. Even though this is a military airfield, civilian operations are permitted under an Operating Deed. Jetstar, Virgin Australia and QantasLink operate flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Ballina. FlyPelican also operates flights to Ballina and Canberra. The airport is leased from the Federal Government for civilian air travel until 2075. The largest commercial aircraft currently operating at Newcastle Airport are the Boeing 737-800s of Virgin Australia. The civil apron can handle aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 767. The airport runway can handle aircraft up to Boeing 747 size. History Commercial operations began at Williamtown in 1947 when the Federal Government opened the existing Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) airport to civil aviation. The airport remained under government control until 1990 when responsibility for its operation was handed over to Newcastle City Council and Port Stephens Council. The current operator, Newcastle Airport Pty Ltd, was formed by the two councils in 1993. Scheduled services to the airport commenced in February 1948, with Trans Australia Airlines using Douglas DC-3 aircraft to service a Sydney–Newcastle–Brisbane route. A new passenger terminal was constructed in 1975. During the 1970s, Masling Airlines operated Cessna 402 aircraft on commuter flights between Newcastle and Sydney, and in 1980 with the acquisition of larger Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante aircraft added a Newcastle – Canberra route. Passenger numbers increased during the 1980s with new airlines and routes serving the airport, including jet services utilising Fokker F28s of Air New South Wales and Ansett Boeing 737s. Impulse Airlines established a base at the airport in the early 1990s, creating a maintenance facility. In 1994, Impulse added the first direct Newcastle – Melbourne flights to their network utilising British Aerospace Jetstream 41 aircraft. In 1996, owing largely Impulse's