Tigerair Australia takes to the skies above Townsville

Townsville will welcome up to 35,000 new interstate visitors each year, with Tigerair launching the first flight between Melbourne and North Queensland today.

The flights, supported by the Palaszczuk Government through the Attracting Aviation Investment Fund (AAIF), will provide four weekly return services between Townsville and Melbourne.

Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland Coralee O’Rourke said local families and businesses relied on tourism in the north.

“The tourism industry is incredibly important to people in North Queensland, with many local families relying on travellers to make a living and to keep their businesses thriving,” Mrs O’Rourke said. 

“Up until now, Townsville has missed out on opportunities for our tourism industry to grow because of limited interstate flights at convenient times.

“But now, our southern neighbours can wake up in chilly Melbourne and escape to sunny Townsville, the Great Barrier Reef or Magnetic Island within just a couple of hours.

“These new flights are a show of confidence in Townsville’s tourism industry, which supports 9000 jobs for locals and injects $1.7 billion into our community.

“We have delivered these flights because it means more people coming to stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants, shop at our local shops and support our local businesses, creating even more opportunities.”

The new service is estimated to inject more than $12.5 million in overnight visitor expenditure and deliver more than 35,000 new seats into the region each year.

Tigerair Australia Head of Communications, Vanessa Regan, says the airline was thrilled to be flying into North Queensland and said, when combined with outbound passengers, the new route would provide nearly 75,000 additional passenger seats through Townsville Airport annually.

“The influx of almost 75,000 additional passenger seats through Townsville Airport each year will provide a welcome economic and tourism boost for the region,” Ms Regan said.

“Queensland has always been an integral part of our network and with the commencement of today’s new route almost 60% of all Tigerair domestic flights now touch the Sunshine State.”

“The local support we’ve received from our tourism and airport partners in Townsville has been first class and we look forward to working with them to stimulate travel to the region by promoting the many tourism drawcards of Townsville to the Melbourne market.”

Townsville Airport Chief Operating Officer Kevin Gill said he was pleased to welcome Tigerair to Townsville for the first time.

“This is great news from both an inbound and outbound perspective, which will particularly benefit the leisure market,” Mr Gill said.

“We look forward to showcasing our vibrant region to Victorians feeling winters chill at the moment.”

The new service has created 10 new jobs at Townsville Airport and is supported by the Queensland Government’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund through Tourism and Events Queensland, in partnership with the Townsville City Council and Queensland Airports Limited.