Link Airways suspends all Tamworth to Sydney flights as it battles low passenger numbers

Christmas Eve will be the last flights from Tamworth to Sydney by Link Airways after the company announced it was suspending flights to and from the state capital.

Qantas dominates the Tamworth to Sydney route and Link spokesperson Jeff Boyd told the Leader it had been a hard slog for Link to compete.

"The numbers on the Sydney route aren't spectacular at the moment," he said.

"The forward bookings were looking really poor.

"Traditionally January and February ... are the quietest two months of the year on that route."

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The airline started twice daily return flights to Sydney from Tamworth in June, but after six months and plenty of customer feedback, the airline has not cracked the market.

The suspension of the flights won't affect the Brisbane to Tamworth leg which Mr Boyd said was "really strong".

Mr Boyd said Friday is shaping up to be the "busiest day of the year so far" for the airline, which he said "had come back really strongly after COVID" with travel numbers.

"Tamworth to Brisbane is going strong, really strong, we're very happy with that," he said.

"For Tamworth-Sydney, we didn't get as much of an uptake ... and hasn't been as good as we had hoped for.

"So we took the decision the other day ... we'd suspend the services and revisit it in the early new year."

Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said the announcement that services were being reduced was disappointing.

But he acknowledged that if the demand wasn't there, then it was a business decision that was understandable.

"It is clear that Link Airways is not abandoning the Sydney service and will review their decision in January," he said.

"It's reassuring to know Link's long established Brisbane service will continue unchanged with the service continuing to have strong demand from Tamworth travellers."

The airline relies on government travel and had not seen as many passengers off the back of COVID for the Sydney-Tamworth leg, but it would be revisited "when everyone gets back to work" in 2023.

Mr Boyd said the suspension was only temporary.

"We always knew it was going to be a tough one, but it's been a bit tougher than we imagined," he said.

"When the market comes back we'll be back."

He said the company had already contacted affected passengers who have been offered a full refund on tickets.

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