New Skytrans flights link Cairns, Whitsunday Coast, Rockhampton

An Aussie-owned airline is on a mission to drive down flight costs for Queenslanders holidaying in their home state. See how much you can save with our price comparison guide.

A Queensland company is shaking up the domestic travel scene with cheap new flights to regional destinations including the Whitsundays.

Skytrans’ first Cairns to Whitsunday Coast and Whitsunday Coast to Rockhampton flights touched down on Monday, signalling a new dawn for affordable intrastate travel, and the Cairns-based company’s entry into the leisure travel market.

Flights aboard Skytrans’ 34-seater Dash 8-100 will travel between the three tourism hot spots five days a week, with prices beginning at $149 one way.

On Friday, Qantas will fly its first planes in a decade in and out of Whitsunday Coast, as it launches daily direct flights to and from Brisbane.

The first Cairns to Whitsunday Coast SkyTrans flight had about 15 passengers on board, while the first Whitsunday Coast to Rockhampton flight had two, with numbers expected to pick up as more people find out about the new options.

The first two to Rockhampton were Brandy Creek and Proserpine-based electrical contractors James Webb and James Coutts, who were thrilled about the time and money they would save flying instead of driving down for work every week.

“It’s cheaper for a flight than to pay him to sip coffees all the way down the Bruce Highway for five hours,” Mr Webb said.

“Plus a tank of fuel,” Mr Coutts added.

Mr Coutts was also keen to jump on board the Cairns route for a future North Queensland adventure – “Now that flight’s there, you can just build off that,” he said. “The alternative used to be an eight-hour drive.”

Skytrans said its inaugural Rockhampton flight was about 70 per cent full.

“We expect higher numbers as the knowledge of the route becomes more widespread,” the company said.

Whitsunday Regional Council’s head of aviation and tourism Craig Turner said the council, which operates Whitsunday Coast Airport, had been wanting to open up new North Queensland routes for many years, and did not take long to seal the deal after Skytrans expressed its interest.

Mr Turner expected the new routes to boost intrastate travel immediately, but also benefit international travellers flying into Cairns later down the track

“It’s about domestic now, but it’s also about that connectivity to a northern international hub,” he said.

Skytrans CEO Alan Milne said the move was part of adapting to Covid-19 restrictions on interstate travel and catering to increasing numbers of Queenslanders looking to holiday closer to home, without spending a fortune.

“The airline industry’s been, as everyone knows, pretty impacted over the last couple of years so we were thinking OK what can we do differently?” Mr Milne said.

“Interstate travel’s pretty much off the cards at the moment so we thought is there an opportunity in the intrastate?”

Mr Milne said Skytrans was looking at launching other new routes as soon as the first quarter of 2022, and was willing to compete with larger airlines such as Qantas in doing so.

“Regional flying can sometimes be very expensive and we’re going to make sure that’s not the case,” he said.

“We will [expand further] but we have to do in a very measured process, and make sure it’s as low risk commercially as possible,” Mr Milne said.

“We want to make sure we build a solid business and manage it correctly, but once we consolidate these routes, and make sure these are performing for us, we’ll see where to from there.”

He said the company was proud of its heritage and determined to drive down the costs associated with regional flying.

“We’re Australian owned and Queensland owned – no other airlines can make that claim,” he said.

“We really want to push that message out that this is an Australian airline giving it a red hot go.

“We’re providing for the region, and if that means we have to compete with the majors, then we will.

“We’ll make sure it is affordable and people can travel because that’s what we want – bums on seats.”

Skytrans is the only airline servicing the Cairns to Whitsunday Coast to Rockhampton route.