The mural was sent to Orange City Council last week, with organisers hoping it could be mounted inside the terminal by the end of November.

It details the history of the Hazelton family, from Max Hazelton buying his first Auster aircraft in the early 1950s, to recruiting brother Jim when he realised he had more charter work than he could handle.

By 1993, Hazelton Airlines was a public company, with 250 aircraft and 170 staff serving 23 regional centres and 250,000 passengers a year before it merged with Kendell Airlines in 2002 and became Regional Express (Rex).

Wade Mahlo, who runs a fuelling business at the airport, said the project had been a year in the making after gathering material and he was pleased with the design.

"[Hazelton Airlines] was a great airline and it's an important part of the history of the Orange community," he said.

The mural is intended to keep passengers entertained and informed while they wait for their flights or once they arrive in Orange.

"If you walk into the terminal at the moment, there's nothing about the history of Orange," Mr Mahlo said.

"It's like the memory of a person, it's got to be there for people to see otherwise they forget about it and that part is lost."

He said the mural would be interactive, with QR codes embedded to link passengers to more information about the Hazeltons, including the 2015 7.30 Report story about the search for Max Hazelton's crash site in the Blue Mountains.

Although Mr Hazelton was able to salvage the wreck at the time and sell it, subsequent searches for the site at Lake Burragorang have proven fruitless.

Mr Mahlo hoped approval for the mural would come within the next week and more murals could be added later on, detailing the history of the airport itself.

An airfield at Sir Jack Brabham Park operated from 1938 and the Spring Hill facility opened in 1961 after a close council vote, with some believing the airport at Bathurst would be sufficient.

"A lot of people don't realise that," Mr Mahlo said.

The mural is expected to come at a cost of $3500.

It will not be the only upgrade to the terminal this financial year, with $2.3 million to be spent on a secure undercover car park, CCTV and an undercover drop-off zone, as well as comforts for business travellers including charging points, WiFi and improved lounges.

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