Avalon bubble push

Bid for regional Vic to fly again

A TRAVEL bubble between Avalon Airport and three states should be established to accelerate regional Victoria’s economic recovery from COVID-19, the airport’s boss says.

Avalon Airport chief executive Justin Giddings said about a month lead time would be needed to give airlines time to advertise flights.

“Domestically, if the borders can open up to regional Victoria, I think there is an opportunity for some flying to occur out of Avalon just for regional Victorians only, initially,” Mr Giddings said.

He said flights to Sydney would be the first target of a regional travel bubble. “I would imagine that at the start we would have only two or three flights to Sydney (a day) that would be all up to the New South Wales government,” he said.

“If the government were able to help out the airlines by subsidising (the move), which they are probably going to need to do, the benefits would be huge.

“If you could bring 300 or 400 people into regional Victoria from Sydney, that starts to add up in terms of dollars.”

The South Australian government would not say this week if it supported the idea of a bubble that would allow regional Victorians to travel to the state without having to quarantine for two weeks.

But it has removed the quarantine requirement for travel from Canberra to SA.

Queensland Health has banned entry for all Victorians into the state.

Under the Victorian government road map, interstate travel is not expected to return until late December.

Before the pandemic, Avalon Airport operated flights to Sydney, the Gold Coast and Adelaide.

Mr Giddings said, pre-pandemic, about half of Victorians flying to Sydney were from regional Victoria, and about 60 per cent of all passengers flying on the Sydney to Avalon route were from Sydney.

He said the bubble would depend on approval from the NSW, Queensland and SA governments.

“We are not lobbying any other state but we have provided our ideas to the Victorian government as late as last week, saying that this is an idea,” he said.

“(The travel bubble) could allow people from Sydney to come down and visit regional Victoria, which I think would be a great boost for everyone.

“Likewise, people going out to Sydney or Queensland. It does make sense.”

Tourism Greater Geelong and the Bellarine acting executive director Tracy Carter said 15.6 per cent of people who visited the region each year were from interstate.

“About 50 per cent of visitors are here to visit friends and family,” Ms Carter said.

“As we move through the steps and businesses have greater capacity to welcome people, we are going to need more coming in to fill that.”

The NSW government was approached for comment but did not respond by deadline.