MILDURA will be ready for take-off should the Victorian Government lift travel restrictions between metropolitan Melbourne and regional areas next weekend.
Premier Daniel Andrews has earmarked November 9 as the first day without any travel restrictions within Victoria, prompting a forecast boom in domestic travel.
Tourism bosses predict “quite significant” interest from Melbourne residents keen to visit regional areas and Mildura Airport chair Peter O’Donnell said airlines and the airport itself would be prepared to meet that demand.
“The airport is ready … we’re ready to go,” Mr O’Donnell said.
“We have maintained all our services, all our systems in place and we’ve upgraded a lot.
“We’re (ready) to meet that increased activity so it will be up to the airlines to see that demand if it’s there.
“They will be looking to resume normal profitability if there is strong demand on those flights and I’ve got no doubt that they will increase the coverage of the routes with new planes.”
Mr O’Donnell said that while there had been a “very marginal” increase in Qantas and Regional Express (Rex) passenger numbers over the past month, that was expected to increase quickly once restrictions ease.
“The new Qantas forward schedule is increasing capacity from December to about 30 per cent with further increases from February to 60 per cent,” he said.
“This schedule also shows a direct Mildura-Sydney route commencing in December and a new Mildura-Adelaide route starting in January.
“However, obviously this is subject to COVID restrictions relaxing and allowing unhindered travel.”
Mr O’Donnell said Qantas and Rex had worked side-by-side to provide Mildura-Melbourne air services under a government agreement to share the route while there had been “very limited” traffic.
“As demand increases then we expect some resumption to normal traffic pretty quickly,” he said.
“Rex has continued to support the Mildura to Melbourne route and as soon as the borders open with South Australia we expect them to resume services to Adelaide immediately.”
Mr O’Donnell said it would be a matter of “wait and see” how Victorian residents react to the easing of travel restrictions.
“We’re all dying to get away on a holiday … I’m sure we’re all in that boat,” he said.
“But it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
“There is a school of thought that domestic tourism is going to skyrocket over the next few years and business travel may see a bit of a softening, but the net result might be similar or even better.
“We’re in uncharted territory and we can’t compare it to anything else, so it will be interesting to see how it pans out.”
Mr O’Donnell said that while the airport board would continue to maintain dialogue with Virgin Australia, which suspended flights in March, he expected both Qantas and Rex to benefit from the company’s exit from the Mildura route.
