Townsville Airport looks to fly to Bali, New Zealand and Singapore as international flights talk hots up

North Queenslanders could soon be flying direct to popular overseas destinations as the cost of living crunch fails to slow down traffic through our aiport. See where + have your say in our poll.

Townsville Airport General Manager Brendan Cook.

North Queenslanders could soon be flying direct to Bali, New Zealand and Singapore as the cost of living crunch fails to slow down traffic through our airport.

Recording their busiest financial year in over a decade, Townsville Airport general manager Brendan Cook says the nearly 1.7 million passengers passing through our gates are hungry to travel overseas.

“It’s the number one question I get asked from the community almost every day,” Mr Cook said, adding his team was “working endlessly” with airline partners to make it happen.

“We want to go from Townsville directly into those holiday destinations instead of going to Brisbane.

“It’s been since 2018 that we haven’t had international flights from Townsville and we are working very closely with partners to try and recover those.”

“It will come, we know the public wants to fly to Singapore, they want to go back to Bali, they would love to go to New Zealand as well.”

Mr Cook said logistics in aircraft and staff, as well as creating sustainable, permanent routes was the key factors, but said the airport is trying to allow international flights to return in “the next two to five years”.

Townsville Airport

With numerous large events being held in Townsville recently, Mr Cook said passengers flocked to the city to experience sporting events and concerts.

“It’s been a huge year for Townsville Airport and tourism into North Queensland, with almost 1.7 million passengers coming through the 2024 financial year which is an extra 55,000 passengers than last year,” he said.

“There’s been great success through concerts in town, P! nk was a great concert, events like Supercars always bring people through as well. Business travel is also back post-Covid.”

Mr Cook said with North Queensland’s winter being a peak tourism time, many people from other states were arriving in Townsville.

“Lots of guests are coming from Victoria, but more than half of passengers every year come through Brisbane, whether that’s from connecting from other states or coming from Brisbane direct,” he said.

On plans to add new routes and additional flights, he said shortfalls in planes, cabin crew and pilots post-Covid added challenges.

The recent loss of budget airline Bonza had also opened up discussions on other airlines picking up flights to Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast.

“Some of those routes were successful because it was the price point, that is what had great success,” Mr Cook said.

“We will see how that transpires into bigger airlines taking those routes on. Bonza added about 5 per cent of passenger volume through the financial year.”

With the Mount Isa Rodeo coming up in a fortnight, Mr Cook said it was another event that drew passengers to the region, with an uptake in flights to Mount Isa from Townsville added in preparation.

“The rodeo is a busy time for Mount Isa, we do see a lift in traffic, some additional flights from Qantas going out to Mount Isa over that weekend as well,” he said.

“I am expecting to see full flights from Thursday through Monday to support the rodeo.”

In May 2024, the Federal Government approved the 2023 Townsville Airport Master Plan, detailing developments and statistics for the airport’s future.

The Master Plan forecasts annual passenger numbers will double the current figures to reach 3.7 million by 2043.

“The next 20 years will be a critical growth period for the Townsville North Queensland region, with a predicted population boom of 38% set to see resident numbers soar to more than 325,000,” Mr Cook said.

“We believe in the strength of the Townsville region, which is why we’ve invested more than $22 million in upgrades over the past three years.”

Originally published as Townsville Airport looks to fly to Bali, New Zealand and Singapore as international flights talk hots up