Qantas announces new Queensland routes

Qantas has announced a number of new Queensland routes, increasing the number of seats in and out of the state each week by 8000.

Qantas will launch a direct service between Townsville and Melbourne for the first time in 15 years as part of a suite of new routes across Queensland.

The national carrier on Tuesday revealed it would launch new routes between Townsville and Melbourne and Adelaide, Adelaide to Cairns and Perth to the Gold Coast.

It will also add the widebody Airbus A330 aircraft operating on more flights from Brisbane to Darwin.

The new routes and larger aircraft will offer 8500 more seats to and from Queensland each week from interstate.

The airline will offer special fares including $179 on the Adelaide and Melbourne to Townsville flight, $199 between Adelaide and Cairns and $229 flying from Perth to the Gold Coast.

Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David said the flights would be a boost to the state’s tourism industry.

“As most international travel remains off limits for now, Australians are taking more regular holidays within the country and we expect these new direct flights to key tourism destinations like Townsville, Cairns and the Gold Coast will be popular with travellers,” he said.