Emotional day as first flights arrive
EMOTIONS ran high as the first two planes from Sydney touched down at Gold Coast Airport on Friday, issuing in the city’s first interstate tourists in months.
Two full planes – Qantas flight QF590 and Virgin VA517 – flew in after midday and were celebrated as part of the Queensland border reopening with a water cannon salute.
Minutes after the planes were drenched, hundreds of passengers walked down the stairs and across the tarmac, which was an “emotional” sight for Queensland Airports Limited CEO Chris Mills.
“It’s a really emotional day for people at the airport, just to see flights coming back and people coming in,” he said.
“It’s been a long, tough road for the past three-and-a-half months.
“The border opening today is bringing traffic back to the Gold Coast and that’s what we want to see.
“It’s going to be a challenging road ahead but it’s a great start.
“During the next few weeks and months there will be a lot of discussion with airlines about additional routes coming into the Gold Coast and really getting the local economy firing again.”
Among the passengers was a group of friends from Sydney, who cheered louder than their plane’s engines when they walked off the ramp and on to the tarmac.
Kim Jones and her friends had booked a “girls’ trip” to the Gold Coast a year ago and after months of not knowing if they were able to pull the trip off, they made it.
“(The Gold Coast) is the new Hawaii,” Mrs Jones said.
“We planned this 12 months ago. Then it got cancelled. Then it got changed again and now we’re here, right on the day the border reopens!
“They opened the borders for us!”
The group had arranged to stay at Broadbeach Waters for three nights.
Asked what they planned to get up to during their stay, Mrs Jones said: “Shop, shop and more shop.”
Tourism and Events Queensland assistant minister and Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon said the tourism industry was taking off as the planes touched down.
“Today is a really exciting milestone for the Gold Coast with our borders reopening to interstate travellers,’’ she said.
“We know how difficult it has been for our tourism and aviation industry during the past couple of months as we work together to flatten the curve.”