ROCKHAMPTON airport is set to receive a $12.6 million upgrade with the Federal Government set to contribute $5 million.

The upgrade which is due to be completed at the end of next year is set to generate 27 jobs during construction and will see the main runway resurfaced along with renovations to taxiways, runway shoulders and both the military and regular public transport aprons.

The $5 million comes from the Building Better Regions fund and will go a long way to help Rockhampton airport become flood resilient and internationally operable, according to local member Michelle Landry.

"This is going to go a long way when we do have flooding events. This will actually protect and help and get the airport up and going sooner,” the local member said.

"Rockhampton Regional Council has also recently announced they'd like to do a trial run on international airport for six months for next year so that's going to be fantastic to do that.

"The airport is international length, we just need the customs and border security out there so this $5 million contribution from the Federal Coalition will certainly go a long way towards making Rockhampton airport international and giving it international status.”

Chair of Council's Airport Committee Cr Neil Fisher said the master plan for the airport had been many years in the making.

"One of the areas that we always have to address is that we are from time to time going to have floods,” he said.

"Our airport might be open more hours than just about every other airport on the East Coast of Queensland but our Kryptonite every now and then is floods. The frustrating part of floods is the actual clean up, getting our airport operational after a flood.

"In our designs of our tarmac upgrade we're looking at a product that will make a 24 hour difference in having the airport up and running so we can have aircraft landing at the airport ahead of time and that way we can keep the economy rolling.”

Member for Flynn Ken O'Dowd said the airport upgrade came as great news for surrounding towns, which Rockhampton serviced.

"Rockhampton is the hub of Central Queensland of course, it services towns of Blackwater, Emerald, Biloela and to a degree Gladstone,” he said.

"Having this upgrade to the Rockhampton airport will bring great benefits and I thank the Federal Government for their support.”

Depty Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Minister for Regional Development Fiona Nash both made the trip to Rockhampton yesterday to make the announcement to Michelle about the funding Rockhampton was set to receive.

Ms Nash said she was delighted to this week announce over $200 million going into infrastructure investment across Australian regional communities thanks to the Building Better Regions Fund program.

"We had 545 applications, only just over 100 of those were successful, it show just how competitive this fund is and it also shows what a great job locally Michelle Landry did here locally to get this job up and running, the locally community pushing it as well,” she said.