North’s hot as flights resume
CAIRNS has become one of the most popular Qantas and Jetstar routes following the resumption of interstate flights, excepting Victoria.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said flights to and from Cairns had made the top five most-booked routes operated by Jetstar and Qantas this week.
“We’ve seen huge demand for services into Cairns and into the Gold Coast in particular, which is fantastic for those tour operators that have been badly impacted in each of those locations,” he said.
“We’ve also had a sale this week following the very successful sale that we had on Jetstar a week or so ago.
“We’ve seen destinations like Broome, Townsville and Cairns do really well in those sales.
“This strong demand is great for a place like Cairns, which had a lot of international visitors previously.
“It’s really important that we can get domestic visitors to go there to help that local community.
“Unfortunately, this week we’ve had a setback with what’s happened in Victoria. Very clearly Australia is doing better than a lot of countries around the world, but we’re not out of the woods when it comes to COVID-19.”
Cairns Airport chief executive Norris Carter said the renewed interest in flights reflected the appeal of the Far North as a holiday destination during the winter months.
“We believe we’re also seeing a transfer of demand from the 10 million Australians who normally travel overseas,” he said.
“The first five planes full of visitors from Sydney arrived to a very warm welcome on Friday, and we’re optimistic that we’ll see more visitors to the region, supporting more jobs for locals.
“We’re working with Tourism Tropical North Queensland to promote the flights as they are reinstated, including providing $500,000 of additional funding this year.”
A spokeswoman for the Shangri-la Hotel in Cairns said hotel staff had noticed an increase in bookings in the past week to coincide with the flights.
“It’s very positive news for us and it’s great for the city to have those flights return,” she said.