Mildura to Adelaide flights: Qantas set to launch new route
The flying kangaroo is making preparations for a new route between Mildura and its nearest capital city. Plus, a date has been set for Sydney services to take off.
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Qantas is making moves to add two new destinations to its Mildura flight schedule, subject to borders reopening.
The airline is now taking bookings from December for its previously-announced service between Mildura and Sydney.
In an unexpected move, the flying kangaroo has also scheduled in flights to Adelaide, Mildura Airport officials say.
Victoria’s second-busiest passenger airport has been reduced to a limited number of planes to Melbourne during the COVID-19 crisis.
Virgin Australia earlier this year abandoned its flights, leaving Qantas and Rex as the two remaining operators.
Mildura Airport chief executive Trevor Willcock said the latest schedule from Qantas, which was subject to change should borders not reopen or if there was a new outbreak, featured an increased number of services from next month onward.
The ramping up included the addition of Adelaide flights in January.
“They haven’t done flights to Adelaide for a long time, but they feel the timing will be good and they feel there will be a market there,” Mr Willcock said.
A QantasLink spokesman said the airline looked forward to potentially announcing new services as border restrictions ease.
If it goes ahead, it would make Mildura to Adelaide a two-carrier route, with Rex expected to resume flying when the border reopens.
Mr Willcock said the Qantas move came as a surprise.
“Because Rex were covering Adelaide, we didn’t see that one coming from Qantas but they obviously believe in the numbers and it works in their schedule,” he said.
Mr Willcock said Qantas planned to go from just four Mildura flights per week to 27 in December.
It was set to increase in February to 42 and then in March to 51.
Mr Willcock anticipated Rex would increase its services to 20 to 25 flights over the same period, which would bring the airport back to about 50 per cent of pre-COVID levels.
Mildura Airport have previously reported discussions with two new carriers about starting up two new routes.
Those remain in play but are subject to the uncertainty about domestic travel, with negotiations about a new Brisbane route ongoing.
Mildura’s tourism sector has been hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions and border closures, with Melburnians typically making up 40 per cent of visitors and South Australians 20 per cent.
The Sydney service was due to launch in March, but coronavirus restrictions put those plans on hold.
Flights between the two destinations are able to be booked on the Qantas website from the December 6 launch date.
Services were scheduled to leave Sydney on each Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while flights from Mildura were on the Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
One-way tickets started at $229.
The prospect of flights to South Australia comes after the operator of the Mildura to Adelaide bus service announced it would fold due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
Tambray Coaches owner Tony Prowse said the uncertainty about borders and what rules would be in place once reopened left him with only one option.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and negotiations with my finance institution failing to achieve a suitable outcome, Tambray Coaches‘ continued operation into the future is no longer viable,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Virgin Australia have now asked the ACCC for authorisation to co-operate with Alliance Airlines on 40 regional routes, including Mildura.
The co-operation could involve codeshare, wet lease or “some other risk sharing arrangement”, the airlines have told the competition regulator.
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