New flights open up GC to Adelaide travellers

GOLD Coast-Adelaide flights ramp up this month as the tourism capital pivots away from Victoria – and incoming air traffic rises to 10 per cent of what it was this time last year.

Gold Coast Airport passenger traffic slumped 99 per cent during the pandemic from 60plus flights a day to three a week.

But in a bid to help reawaken the city’s devastated tourism industry new Virgin flights – suspended four months ago – will begin on July 21 and are expected to inject up to $8.9 million annually into the economy.

With the lucrative Melbourne market unavailable for the foreseeable future, attention has turned to tapping into the South Australian market.

Queensland Airports Ltd CEO Chris Mills warned it was just the first step towards reviving the $6 billion tourism sector.

Mr Mills said he was excited by Friday’s flight arrival but warned there was a long road to recovery ahead.

“While this is a great change we are only going to be operating at 10 per cent of what we used to, or around eight or nine flights a week,” he said. “This is not going to be a quick recovery and domestic travel will take time to get back to what we used to see. But this is a positive step.”

Tourism Minister Kate Jones said the flights would bring an extra 27,000 people to the city a year and support up to 71 jobs annually.

“Because Queenslanders have done such a great job fighting coronavirus, we can now focus on our economic recovery,” she said.

“Flights generate millions for local businesses and support local jobs. That’s why we’re supporting our airlines to restart routes as quickly as possible.

“Last year South Australian tourism was worth more than $440 million for Queensland. The economic recovery of the local tourism industry has al

begun. These new flights will help to ensure that we keep up the momentum.”

The Gold Coast-Adelaide link has been suspended since March 24. The looming return comes as Queensland reopens its border to all states except coronavirus-ravaged Victoria.

Virgin’s first sold-out Sydney-Gold Coast flight will land at the airport on Friday. Eighty per cent of seats on flights already scheduled for the route next week have been sold.

A Virgin spokesman said: “We are seeing very strong demand on flights to Queensland, particularly destinations like the Gold Coast.”

Virgin and Tourism Events Queensland will on Friday launch 500,000 cheap fares to some of the state’s most popular destinations. Among them will be $85 Gold Coast-Sydney fares and $129 Gold CoastAdelaide flights.

The State Government recently announced $15 million to secure direct flights to Queensland destinations and support the economic recovery of the tourism industry.

June passenger numbers for Gold Coast Airport showed a 98.9 per cent decline or 469,254 fewer passengers than the same time last year.

THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A QUICK RECOVERY AND DOMESTIC TRAVEL WILL TAKE TIME TO GET BACK TO WHAT WE USED TO SEE CHRIS MILLS