NT flights: High cost has Alice Springs business owner dreaming of low-cost top to bottom train

The headaches around flying in and out of Alice Springs has one local business owner dreaming of a reliable, low-cost, means of transport that is much closer to the ground.

Alice Springs business owner Barbara Clifford. Picture: Gera Kazakov

An Alice Springs business owner says she’s missing out on jobs because of the high price of flights to and from the Red Centre capital.

Hindwood Institute director Barbara Clifford said the issue was becoming a detriment to her business.

“I miss out on speaking gigs because of the cost to fly me out of Alice Springs to the destinations – whether it be to a port where a cruise ship is leaving from or whether it’s an national conference,” she said.

“They’re really interested in me. My fees are affordable – everything’s affordable – but then they go ‘Oh, sorry, the cost of the airfares’.”

Alice Springs business owner Barbara Clifford on the phone. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Mrs Clifford said she’s been operating in the town for 10 years, and frequently flys to and from the Top End capital as part of her job.

A flight to Darwin from Alice Springs takes just more than two hours – depending on conditions – while a flight to Sydney will take just over three hours.

Despite the time, Mrs Clifford said clients are unwilling to pay for her airfares to Darwin or other Australian cities, making it harder for her to travel for work.

“Sometimes what I’ll have to do is say to one client, I’ll provide my services for free if you will fly me up there,” she said.

“And then what I do is extend my stay and try and generate more business while I’m up there.”

Mrs Clifford said she understands airlines are a business, and in order to operate they have to make a profit.

The fence prohibiting access to the Alice Springs Airport runway, with the Alice Springs Airport control tower in the background. Picture: Gera Kazakov

But her experience with Qantas has left her wondering if they’ve forgotten what the company name stands for – Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow when Qantas – the acronym – was about providing service and connectivity for people in remote areas for Queensland and Northern Territory,” she said.

“I understand that the all the fault doesn’t sit necessarily with the airlines because they have to operate like a business. But what are the alternatives?”

A Qantas spokesperson said “there are some fundamental realities about the costs of operating regional services that we can’t change, particularly to remote parts of the country, but we’ll continue to work with local communities to assist residents”.

“There are a number of factors that can impact the cost of operating from regional cities compared to from larger metro capital cities that we can’t change including external costs such as airport charges and fees being split among fewer customers, smaller aircraft size and seasonality,” they said.

But for Ms Clifford, the high price of flights has gotten her pondering another alternative means of transport between Alice Springs and Darwin.

“My dream would be to have a passenger service on the train where I could get on the train at like 10 o’clock at night and overnight in Darwin,” she said.

“With free Wi-Fi so that I can do business while sitting on the train.

“If that was cheaper than the cost of airfares, then I would do it.”

Originally published as NT flights: High cost has Alice Springs business owner dreaming of low-cost top to bottom train