Sheri Guthrie is a seven-minute drive from her local airport but says she cannot afford to use it. 

In the past, the Coffs Harbour woman would regularly fly from the NSW mid-north coast down to Melbourne for work and to visit her partner's family.

"I remember paying $50 for a one-way ticket from Coffs to Melbourne a few years ago" she said.

The former frequent flyer said return airfares to Melbourne can now cost up to $900. 

"We just can't afford to fly out of Coffs anymore," she said.

Now, when Ms Guthrie does make the trip south, she first drives more than 200 kilometres north to fly from the Ballina-Byron Airport.

"Which is frustrating because you have a fully functioning airport [at Coffs Harbour], and most people I know can't afford to use it."

Coffs Harbour Airport currently offers Qantas flights to Sydney and Melbourne, and Rex flights to Sydney.

In Ballina, three airlines offer flights to Sydney and Jetstar has flights to Melbourne.

Ballina Airport manager Julie Stewart said she had noticed an influx of travellers choosing to fly out of Ballina instead of their local airports.

"We get people coming down from the Gold Coast. A lot of it is based on scheduling," she said.

"Part of the key is getting that competition or an alternate low-cost carrier." 

The latest available data from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and Arts compares the cost of flight routes across the country. 

In October 2024, the cheapest return fares from Coffs Harbour to Sydney averaged $370 — more than triple what was being charged in 2019. 

In the same month, return flights from Ballina to Sydney were [on average] $128, despite the return route being 400 kilometres longer. 

Ballina is the outlier, though, with most return flights to and from regional centres and Sydney costing between $350 and $450. 

Cheapest average cost of Return flight to Sydney

 Those travelling between capital cities typically get better value for money.

 Return flights from Sydney to Perth averaged just $200 more than the Coffs Harbour service despite being about 6,500 kilometres further.

The editor of a digital airline rating platform, Geoffrey Thomas, said shorter distances and flight times did not necessarily equate to cheaper fares.

"There are a lot of basic charges that are applied to a flight, like security charges, passenger handling charges, and sometimes noise taxes" he said.

Coffs Harbour Airport has declined to comment on the situation, although manager Frank Mondello said in a statement that airlines set airfares.

The price to pay

Coffs Harbour MP Gurmesh Singh has raised concerns about the impact on tourism.

"If it's cheaper to fly to Byron, Gold Coast or even Cairns, we know people will fly to those destinations," he said.

"Airports like Coffs Harbour have borne the brunt of a decline in seat numbers."

In a statement, the chief executive of QantasLink, Rachel Yangoyan, said Qantas was investing in Coffs Harbour, deploying a larger plane to the region and increasing services to Melbourne from two to five a week.

Rex Airlines has also been contacted for comment.

Solutions in the air

In August this year, the federal government released its Aviation White Paper.

It called for the Productivity Commission to review regional airfares, with a focus on competition across the sector.

In 2022, the Western Australian government introduced a scheme capping flights for regional residents travelling to Perth.

On eligible routes, the Regional Airfare Zone Cap (RAZC) scheme caps flights at $199 or $299 one-way to Perth, depending on zones.

Former mayor of Dubbo and chair of Regional Cities NSW, Matthew Dickerson, said a similar model could be adopted in NSW.

"I'm not saying it's the only solution, but it's something," he said.