Canberra is already handling more smaller flights, with FlyPelican, which re-started a Newcastle-Canberra service three weeks ago, adding flights on Monday morning and Thursday and Friday evenings.

Scheduled flights on the route stopped 18 months ago when Brindabella Airlines went into receivership. FlyPelican started morning and afternoon services on June 1 and will start the extra flights from July 20.

Canberra Airport's head of aviation Matthew Brown said the end of regular, scheduled flights on this route had nothing to do with the popularity of the services between Canberra and Newcastle.

"We were confident that business and leisure travellers would take up the option to fly directly between the two cities if given the opportunity, rather than hubbing through Sydney, driving or catching the train – all of which takes much longer and wastes productive time," Mr Brown said.

Meanwhile, bigger aircraft bound for Sydney could make more un-scheduled diversions to Canberra in future. All commercial airlines have agreements with secondary destination airports to use if diversions are needed, and already flights bound for Sydney have diverted to Canberra because of bad weather.

Fairfax reported last week of international airlines complaining that "unnecessary diversions" were disrupting large numbers of passengers – some A380s carry more than 500 people – and damaging the reputation of Australia's tourism industry.

The airlines estimate it costs up to $100,000 each time an aircraft is diverted because passengers have to be put up in hotels and on alternative flights, while the flow-on effects to their networks can take days to clear.

A Canberra Airport spokeswoman said Australia should adopt a world-wide practice of airborne aircraft having right of way in a queue, and bigger passenger jets with hundreds of passengers should have priority over a private jet carrying one or two people. So, for example, a 747 jet in the air would have priority coming into Sydney over a private jet on the ground in Brisbane.

But according to the spokeswoman, Sydney Airport currently used a bit of "hybrid position" of first come, first served. As yet this had not caused diversions to Canberra, but as demand at Kingsford Smith grew, and completion of the proposed second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek could be 20 years away, more overflow flights were likely to come to Canberra.

"The diversions we get are when there are extraordinary events such as wild weather in Sydney, or closure of a runway in Sydney," the spokeswoman said. "Airlines looking at diversions will be looking at their scheduling pretty closely. That is part of the reason commercially scheduled flights in the air should get priority to land, they are up there burning fuel, that's what costs them money."

Canberra was ready and capable to take any overflow in future, the spokeswoman said.

"We are already the designated airport for a number of airlines if they can't get into Sydney, and the only 24/7 airport that is A380 capable between Brisbane and Melbourne. So if you miss the curfew in Sydney, you come into Canberra, unless you are in-flight and your designated secondary airport is Brisbane or Melbourne."

The spokeswoman said the classic diversion to Canberra because of Sydney's curfew was Leonardo DiCaprio's new year's party flights in 2012. DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx flew into Sydney on the Friday before celebrations before catching light planes to Canberra Airport, then boarding a private jet to Las Vegas for a second tilt at revelry.