QANTASLINK ADDS GERALDTON TO DOMESTIC NETWORK
Australian regional carrier QantasLink is to inaugurate flights between Perth and Geraldton this winter, expanding its network to 56 destinations. The airline will offer a twice daily weekday flight and single weekend rotations using one of its Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 turboprops from November 21. An estimated 91,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year on the services of Skywest Airlines, which offers more than 25 flights a week. “This service will provide the Geraldton community with unprecedented access to a range of Australian and international destinations by linking them to Qantas’s extensive network,” said Narendra Kumar, Executive Manager, QantasLink. The airline has also announced that it will introduce its Q400 on services between Exmouth and Perth twice a week on Monday and Wednesday. This will complement existing B717 aircraft on the route which will operate on Friday and Sunday. “We are looking forward to introducing our Q400 aircraft on these key Western Australia routes as part of Qantas’s significant investment in regional Australia. This follows our successful deployment and utilisation of this aircraft type across several destinations within Australia and Papua New Guinea, added Narendra Kumar.
TIGER AIRWAYS TO COMPETE WITH SILKAIR TO DAVAO
Low-cost carrier Tiger Airways is to compete with SilkAir on flights between Singapore and the Filipino city of Davao, the largest city on the island of Mindanao and one of the busiest cargo hubs in the country. The budget carrier, which is partly owned by Singapore Airlines (SIA), is to start a three times weekly flight from November 1, adding to the three flights per week currently offered by SilkAir, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIA. Tiger Airways has made a big impression since it was established in December 2003 and now accounts for a 7.4 per cent share of the capacity (weekly seats) and a similar 7.4 per cent of the traffic (estimated O&D passengers) from Singapore Changi Airport. It currently offers scheduled flights to almost 20 destinations and competes directly with SilkAir to seven existing destinations – Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Penang, Phuket, Shenzhen and Thiruvananthapuram. In the past year an estimated 19,000 O&D passengers traveled between Singapore and Davao, up 21.4 per cent on the previous 12 months. Around 38 per cent of these passengers made use of the direct SilkAir service, but around 44 per cent flew with Cebu Pacific Airways via Manila and Cebu, a routing where average fares were more than half those offered by SilkAir.
STRATEGIC AIRLINES DROPS REGIONAL ROUTES
Australian carrier Strategic Airlines will suspend services between Perth and Denpasar, Bali and will end all flights from the Northern Queensland city of Townsville by the end of October, as part of its ongoing restructuring. The company is set for a complete rebrand as it repositions itself in the local market ahead of the launch of long-haul scheduled flights to Hawaii and China. Strategic Airlines has confirmed that despite strong growth on the Perth – Bali route, where passenger numbers have increased by more than a quarter, increased competition has made it difficult for the airline to compete effectively. “We have conducted a network-wide review of our operations and as a result of this review and the current Perth-Bali competitive environment, we have made a decision to withdraw from operating our Perth-Bali-Perth service for the foreseeable future,” it confirmed in a statement. The carrier has served the route for the past 18 months and will operate its last flight on October 29. It secured just a five per cent share of the estimated 643,000 O&D passengers that travelled on the route in the past year with strong competition from the likes of Garuda Indonesia, Virgin Australia and low-cost carriers Indonesia AirAsia and JetStar Airways. However, Strategic Airlines does hold the strongest yield with average one-way fares almost 25 per cent greater than its closest rival and almost double the market average. Strategic Airlines is also to end all flights to Townsville in north Queensland - the carrier will close its link to Brisbane next month and its international link to Bali from October 1. It had faced strong competition on the domestic route to Brisbane with Qantas and Virgin Australia offering multiple daily departures and JetStar Airways a daily rotation. However, it was the sole operator to Denpasar, carrying around 9,000 O&D passengers in the past year.
BRINDABELLA AIRLINES GEARS UP FOR ARMIDALE LAUNCH
Australian regional carrier and Qantas affiliate Brindabella Airlines is making final preparations ahead of next week’s launch of direct flights between Brisbane and Armidale. The carrier is based at Canberra but also offers domestic links to important regional centres from Brisbane and Sydney. It currently flies from Brisbane to Coffs Harbour, Moree and Tamworth, but from August 15 will introduce a weekday link to Armidale, the administrative centre of Northern Tablelands, New South Wales. “We are extremely pleased to be able to provide these services between Brisbane and Armidale and we hope the Armidale community will get behind it and support it. It has already been a great help that the council has been very supportive and a pleasure to deal with,” said Jeff Boyd, Chief Executive Officer, Brindabella Airlines. “In the 21st century regional communities need access to first class services if they are to prosper, and whilst the service will initially be one flight per day during week days, we hope to expand that quickly to two flights per day and to weekends as the passenger numbers grow”.
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