Two-thirds of passengers in and out of Newcastle Airport will fly Jetstar when the extra flights start next March and Melbourne and Gold Coast routes will be especially bolstered.

Flights between Newcastle and Melbourne will increase from twice to three times daily on March 7, and Novocastrians can get to the Gold Coast twice a day from July.

"We've been the predominant airline into Newcastle, and it's been a very important market for us," Jetstar corporate relations head Simon Westaway said.

"The airport is very well managed and we see an important future there."

Flight options for Newcastle were thrown into a tailspin eight years ago by the collapse of regional carrier Impulse Airlines.

Qantas bought what was left of Impulse in 2001, built sister carrier Jetstar from that base and launched the airline in 2004.

Today's announcement showed Jetstar was expanding the Newcastle base it inherited from Impulse, Mr Westaway said.

He predicted Hunter residents' increased access to Melbourne would make it easier to conduct business, while the extra travel between Newcastle and Gold Coast could boost the tourism sectors of both.

The carrier introduced a third daily flight to and from the southern capital in 2008, but backed away as the global financial crisis eroded holiday budgets.

Today's announcement coincides with 700,000 new seats nationally, a move that Jetstar expects will to boost its 8.1 million 2009 domestic ticket sales by 7 per cent.