Queensland secures Qantas deal for special airfares from US and UK

International travellers will be offered special fares to Queensland under a deal negotiated by Premier Anna Bligh and Tourism Minister Desley Boyle to help boost the State’s tourism market.

Premier Bligh said the Qantas fare cuts were negotiated by the State Government after the airline cut services into some of Queensland’s key tourism regions in May.

The benefits include a 17% discount - worth up to $1200 - on trips from London to Cairns.

The deal allows travellers to fly into Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne and a get a free return trip to Cairns.

“These initiatives follow a difficult period for our tourism market and the Qantas decision in May to cut services was a tough blow,” said Premier Bligh.

“That’s why we held a series of meetings with Qantas Group executives to find ways to minimise the impact of its scheduling decisions following the decision to cut services in May.

“To give Qantas full credit, they have supported us by agreeing to a number of initiatives we put to them.”

The initiatives include a deal for US travellers from LA which offers valued-added packages for travellers to Brisbane including a free connecting flight to Cairns.

Flights from Hamilton Island to Japan will no longer need to overnight at Cairns Airport in a move design to attract Japanese tourists back to Queensland.

Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said that domestically, Jetstar had committed to operating more flights when required on the Sydney to Hamilton Island route during heavy booking periods.

“This is an encouraging commitment to the Whitsundays which saw a 21 percent reduction in domestic air capacity this year,” she said.

Ms Boyle and Tourism Queensland executives have also held a busy schedule of meetings with international carriers to put forward business cases and marketing incentives.

“Despite the fact that globally it’s one of the toughest times the airlines have faced with record fuel prices and weak world economies, we were well received,” said the Tourism Minister.

“One of our wins includes a recent commitment to the Queensland market from Japan Airlines which announced it would open reservations on its daily Tokyo-Brisbane services beyond the peak April-September 2009 travel period.

“This allows us some longer-term certainty for our planning and marketing in Japan.”

The Minister said that other recent aviation wins for Queensland included:

• Eva Air is increasing services from Taipei to Brisbane from three per week to five per week from early December to end of January increasing access for Taiwanese and Chinese to Queensland.
• AirAsia X is increasing services from Kuala Lumpur to the Gold Coast from four per week to daily from 20 December to 10 January increasing access for Malaysian and Chinese visitors to Queensland.
• Jetstar and Qantaslink have made the connection between Hamilton Island, Cairns and Japan more seamless.
• Jetstar will increase seat capacity on the thrice-weekly Melbourne-Townsville route by almost 20 percent from 26 October by upgrading the size of the aircraft deployed.
• From 26 October Jetstar will expand direct services from Sydney to the Gold Coast to 10 times daily and from Melbourne to the Gold Coast, six times daily.
• From 1 October, Japan Airlines is code-sharing with Jetstar on its Osaka-Gold Coast-(Sydney) and Tokyo (Narita) – Cairns services, which means Japanese visitors can now book seats on these flights through Japanese travel agents and JAL representatives.

“The negotiations with international airlines are complex, however with funds available under the Queensland Government’s $4 million assistance package, we are able to offer marketing incentives to secure strategically important air access for Queensland destinations,” she said.

“Tourism Queensland and I are planning a second round of meetings with airlines in China and south-east Asia in October, and in the interim Tourism Queensland’s international offices are continuing dialogue with airlines in their markets.”

Ms Boyle said other recent good news for the Queensland tourism industry was the Tiger Airways announcement it would increase its flights between Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast from three to seven a week from 15 December.

“We have also met with Jetstar management to discuss a number of other opportunities,” Ms Boyle said.

“There’s not going to be any magical quick fixes for air access to Queensland in the short term but we are making some steady progress and working on securing some strategic wins for the Queensland tourism industry.”

For further information: Ministerial Media Advisor Kirstie Maier 3225 1005 or Danielle Koopman (Tourism Queensland): 3535 5588 or 0424 151 684

28 Septmeber, 2008