Northern flights set to be fast-tracked for Coast

Northern flights from the Coast could be fast-tracked in response to the changing travel landscape.

Sunshine Coast Airport new runway tarmac. Pictured, Gareth Williamson general manager aviation business development and Ross Ullman project director Sunshine Coast Airport Expansion. Photo Patrick Woods / Sunshine Coast Daily.

NORTHERN flights from the Coast could be fast-tracked in response to the changing travel landscape.

Sunshine Coast Airport aviation business development general manager Gareth Williamson said the coronavirus shutdown had shown how important it was for airports to diversify services, and that included intrastate travel as well as across domestic borders.

He said a realistic time frame for a northern service would be in the next year or two, and he said discussions were actively "happening now".

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Cairns had long been on the wish list of local travellers and recent research undertaken by the airport had reinforced the demand for that market.

Canberra, Hobart and Perth were other significant markets revealed in the research undertaken by L.E.K Consulting.

Sunshine Coast Airport new runway tarmac. Photo Patrick Woods / Sunshine Coast Daily.

Mr Williamson said the Cairns market offered an opportunity to partner with that region to tailor travel packages, especially for New Zealanders.

He said it would take "a while" for airlines to get back on their feet, but their advice was Qantas would be back to 50 per cent of domestic capacity by July.

He said indications were that corporate travel would be a "bit slower" to come back, as the full financial effects of the pandemic were still to be realised.

It was hoped pent-up domestic travel demand would kickstart the industry, once state borders reopened.

"We're certainly going to be relying on that being the case," Mr Williamson said.

Data released last week by the Tourism and Transport Forum, after a survey of 1500 people, showed 38 per cent non-Queenslanders set to travel to the state in the next two months were likely to travel to the Sunshine Coast or Noosa.

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