A NEW era of convenience for business travellers, family visits and tourists kicked off on Monday when the long-awaited inaugural QantasLink flight from Sydney touched down at Mildura Airport.
COVID-19 quashed the planned March launch of the new service, but Qantas executives and Mildura’s community leaders turned out in force to celebrate the first passengers arriving in Mildura from the Harbour City at lunchtime on Monday.
“The start of this Sydney service shows it’s a good economic recovery sign for us,” Mildura Regional Development chief executive Brett Millington said.
“The re-establishment of this leg was something we were really looking forward to in March, but then we had the delay with COVID.
“Things are finally getting back to normal at the airport, with the return of daily Qantas flights from Melbourne. And we’re hopeful of more legs coming here too.
“Qantas has flagged Adelaide in the near future as well and discussions are ongoing with Virgin to come back.”
Mr Millington estimated the economic impact of the new QantasLink service from Sydney would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to Mildura.
“We’re looking at this service bringing an extra 50,000 visitors to the region each year,” he said.
“An overnight stay from any visitor is worth about $180, so you can see what this will mean to the local economy.
“The service from Sydney makes it a lot easier for people to get here quickly and that helps business and families.
“Visiting friends and relatives is typically about 40 per cent of our (tourism) market.”
Mildura Airport chief executive Trevor Willcock said the first flight from Sydney to Mildura on Monday had about 60 per cent passenger occupancy.
“And this was with no marketing or advertising,” said Mr Willcock, who has just celebrated a year in the airport’s top job.
“The forward bookings are around the 60 per cent mark too, so there are positive signs for this new service.
“There will be four flights a week from Mildura to Sydney (on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays), and we’re expecting those occupancy levels to increase as more people know about it.”
One-way Red e-Deal flights from Mildura to Sydney are going as cheaply as $229 next week, but most are about $290 in the next few weeks.
“When it gets closer to 100 per cent (passenger occupancy), Qantas will naturally put on extra flights for this leg and the prices will come down,” Mr Willock said.
“There is no doubt this new service will be a great boost for the city and our airport.”
