Cathay set to celebrate
Airline approaches two year Wellcamp milestone
TOOWOOMBA’S cargo flight to the world continues to grow, with Cathay Pacific recording year on year tonnage growth on the flight to Hong Kong.
The airline will reach the two year milestone for the flight later this month.
Over its two years of operation the cargo flight has carried an endless amount of food products, mining equipment, rare paintings and even the set of Broadway musical Kinky Boots, which was taken to Hamburg, Germany.
The airline began operating the flight on November 21, 2016 and operates the flight to Hong Kong every Tuesday.
Cathay Pacific Regional Head of Cargo SWP Nigel Chynoweth said the service had grown since its introduction.
“We have seen year-on-year tonnage growth out of Toowoomba Wellcamp, and while we are not planning to change the frequency of our service, we regularly review the performance of all our routes to ensure we are capturing the demand that exists in the market,” Mr Chynoweth said.
“We are pleased with the freighter from Wellcamp. We uplift weekly shipments of perishables, including chilled meat, produce and dairy and also oversize shipments of mining equipment, aircraft engines and artwork.
“We are fortunate that with a network of 46 freighter ports we are able to handle all types of shipments to almost anywhere in the world.”
Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise CEO Ali Davenport said the flight had a significant impact on Toowoomba’s economy.
“It’s absolutely amazing for us,” Ms Davenport said.
“It brings opportunity that we just wouldn’t normally have if we didn’t have that flight or that airport.”
Ms Davenport said she hoped to see more local agriculture producers take advantage of the flight.
“We would love to see more agricultural products going on the plane,” she said.
“We’re running a program (through Food Leaders Australia) called Emerging Exports, where we are working with business to get them to that export ready status.
“We would love for them to use that direct flight out of Wellcamp Airport.”
Ms Davenport said Wellcamp Airport as a whole was a game changer for the region.
“We’d be lost without it,” she said.
“The airport is part of our future, along with rail and the Second Range Crossing.
“Without the airport we as a region wouldn’t be advancing as fast as we are.”