Flights swap sun for snow

THE latest addition to a milkrun style flight out of Townsville Airport could see North Queenslanders hitting the Victorian ski fields this winter.

JETGO has announced a Gold Coast to Albury service which will link on to its Townsville to Gold Coast service.

The new flights will start on June 29 and run twice a week on Sundays and Thursdays.

The schedule will allow passengers to connect to the service already running from Townsville to the Gold Coast, via Rockhampton.

JETGO Australia’s managing director airlines Paul Bredereck said the carrier had been providing flights to Townsville since 2015 and this gave people another travel option.

“What we found when we started our Brisbane to Albury service was a lot of people rediscovering the Australian skifields,” he said.

“We’re also aware there are defence activities in Albury and defence activities in Townsville.”

Townsville Airport chief operating officer Kevin Gill said it was exciting that Townsville now had a connection to the snow and skifields.

“Similarly, Albury residents looking to escape the winter chill will be able to head north to explore our beautiful tropical region.

It comes as travel through Townsville Airport received a boost last month.

Figures from Queensland Airports Limited show 135,113 passengers in Townsville during April, a 6.4 per cent increase from last April’s 126,993 passengers.

QAL chief executive officer Chris Mills said they expected domestic passengers from southern markets to grow.

“Sydney was a standout performer for the month, but Tigerair has reported strong early uptake on its Melbourne services which commence on June 22, so we expect this will translate to significant growth on the Melbourne route over coming months,” he said.

“Less than 3 per cent of our passenger numbers in April were travelling internationally, but we have plans to see this grow.”