The highly sought after return flights to Uluru are off
The highly sought-after return trip from Mackay to Uluru has taken off with more possible bundles in the future.
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The highly-sought after return flight to Uluru took off with some very happy travellers on board.
The sold-out flight, which was a first for Mackay, sparked outrage when ticket allocations were snapped up before technically going on sale.
Mackay Tourism CEO Tas Webber said the deal formed what he hoped would be the beginning of holiday and package bundles in the region’s future.
“We have a goal to get something like this off the ground again in the new financial year,” Mr Webber said.
“We’ve got a lot of demand but we need to work with the airlines, but we don’t have anything scheduled at the moment.”
The flight departed Mackay airport at 1.30pm with travellers arriving in at Ayers Rock (Uluru) Airport at 4pm.
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Travellers will then head to the heart of Australia and to watch the sunset over Uluru with a barbecue dinner and experience the Field of Lights site.
The return flights will arrive back in Mackay about 2am Saturday.
One Airlie Beach couple considered themselves extremely lucky.
Dwayne Johnston and his partner Stephanie Verhaagen are expecting their first baby and wanted to see Uluru while they could still fly.
“I left home at 3am and drove to the Lagoon but then I was told I was in the wrong place.
“I went straight to the Mackay information centre and got there at 7.10 and we got lucky with the last four tickets.”
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Other lucky travellers decided to make a weekend out of it with family flying up from Brisbane for the experience.
Mackay resident Nathalie Mitchell said seeing Uluru had been high on the bucket list.
“We’ve always wanted to do it, so mum and my sister flew up as well to make it a girls weekend,” Ms Mitchell said.
Even Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson lined up for the experience and said he was unsurprised the flights had sold out.
“People have been cooped up for a long time and I think we saw that with everyone's enthusiasm for the deal,” he said.
Originally published as The highly sought after return flights to Uluru are off
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