Melbourne and Cairns added to flights at the Wagner family’s private Wellcamp airport in Toowoomba

TOOWOOMBA entrepreneurs, the Wagner family, will celebrate the latest high in their soaring success story next week with the first flights to Melbourne and Cairns from their privately built airport.

Flight attendants Sarah Parker and Kenneth Torres there careers will commence on the first flight of the Northwest out of Wellcamp Brisbane West Aiport (25km west; of Toowoomba). The Northwest Airline from Darwin destined for Melbourne on Monday. 11th March 2016 pic David Martinelli

TOOWOOMBA entrepreneurs, the Wagner family, will celebrate the latest high in their soaring success story next week with the first flights to Melbourne and Cairns from their privately built airport.

Airnorth will operate seven return flights a week between the Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport and the Victorian capital, under a codeshare agreement with Qantas, starting tomorrow.

The first of a three-times-a-week return service to Cairns will take off the following day.

Both routes will use 76-seat Embraer E170 aircraft.

“It’s great news for people of this region who can now be in Melbourne in the same time they would take to drive to Brisbane Airport in the past,’’ Wagners group managing director Denis Wagner said.

With QantasLink already flying to and from Sydney, it takes the number of regular passenger services in and out of the Toowoomba hub to 70 a week.

An Airnorth lands at Wellcamp ready to start the Melbourne route in a codeshare with Qantas. Pic: David Martinelli

And it means the region now has connectivity to four international airports.

Tomorrow’s flight will be the first for new Airnorth cabin crew member Sarah Parker.

“I’m extremely excited,’’ she said. “It’s been a big dream.”

The 21-year-old who grew up in the Toowoomba suburb of Drayton said she never imagined her first trip as a hostess would take off just 15 minutes from home.

Sarah and Kenneth Torres, 30, were among the four new crew members selected from 60 applicants for the new Airnorth services.

Wellcamp, which was financed and built entirely by the Wagners, opened in November 2014.

It can handle jets as large as Boeing 747s and is expected to start regular freight flights to Hong Kong later this year.