Demand takes off Airnorth adds services
CAPACITY flights between Townsville and two other growing regional cities have prompted an airline to add two new return services a week.
Airnorth will add a fourth weekly return jet service between Darwin and Townsville and on to Toowoomba to its schedule every Sunday starting from June 3.
It will run in addition to its existing Monday, Wednesday and Friday flights.
They are also adding a temporary weekly return service between Darwin and Townsville only every Thursday afternoon from June 7 through to the end of September to coincide with the busier tourism period.
Airnorth CEO Daniel Bowden said the Darwin- based airline was pleased by the growth in traffic to the Northern Territory by both business and leisure travellers in 2017 and early indications were the growth in customer numbers was likely to continue in 2018.
He said the decision to add a Thursday afternoon direct jet Townsville to Darwin service was driven by two factors.
“Currently that route is at near capacity and with the addition of this new Thursday service, it will enable more available capacity for those customers who wish to move between Darwin and Townsville for business and leisure,” he said.
“Townsville is an important market for Airnorth and how we intend on supporting it is through helping more customers arrive safely and with greater frequency during the dry season,” he said.
Townsville Enterprise tourism and events director Bridget Woods said the bolstered air services were a great opportunity to continue promoting the region’s strong winter events calendar while welcoming new and returning visitors.
“Townsville Enterprise has a partnership with Airnorth that includes providing the airline with marketing content to strengthen its messaging of our destination to both the Darwin and Toowoomba markets,” she said.
“This is a welcome step in the right direction for our region.”
But in a blow for the region, Jetstar flights between Townsville and Bali are still scheduled to stop from March 21.