Middle East connections

THE ducks are lining up for a direct service from the Middle East to Cairns.

A secretive trade delegation has returned from the region involving Mayor Bob Manning, Cairns Airport and senior executives of Ghassan Aboud’s Australian operations.

The parties involved are keeping details under wraps, refusing to name the destination but acknowledging the mission.

But it comes as a Qatar Executive corporate jet, a Gulfstream Aerospace GVI, was photographed parked on the apron outside the international terminal yesterday.

Qatar Executive is a business jet subsidiary of Qatar Airways, based in Doha, with 11 aircraft.

Cairns Airport has made no secret of its desire to connect the region to the Persian Gulf with Emirates and Etihad mentioned in discussions.

Mr Aboud’s $500 million investment in the region, which includes three new hotel developments in the Cairns CBD, a marina project at Port Douglas and a luxury Outback cattle station experience, is arousing the interest of his fellow Syrians and others in the Middle East.

Two years ago former deputy prime minister Warren Truss announced that Qatar had been given 50 per cent more capacity to fly to Australia and permission to include regional destinations. He highlighted Cairns.

Qatar Airways currently operates daily flights to Doha from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, five flights a week from Adelaide and has plans to fly to Canberra later this year.

A non-stop link from the Middle East to Cairns would open up the region to a new and lucrative source of holidaymakers as well as fresh food exports.

Nick Dalton Deputy editor