Airnorth to serve Melbourne and Cairns from Wellcamp

Darwin-based Airnorth will expand out of Northern Australia for the first time when it commences daily services from Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport to Melbourne from next March.

The flights will be operated by Airnorth’s 76-seat Embraer E170 jets from March 14, with new three-times-weekly Wellcamp-Cairns services to begin at the same time.

“This initiative provides a much-needed direct link for residents of Toowoomba and surrounding regions to Melbourne and Cairns for both business and leisure travellers alike,”Airnorth chief executive Daniel Bowden said in a statement on Thursday.

“The new flights will also allow passengers from the Toowoomba region to easily connect onto international and other domestic services via Cairns or Melbourne.”

The Bristow Helicopters-owned Airnoth says it will be “seeking to expand current codeshare arrangements” with Qantas to cover the new Wellcamp services, which will go on sale from early January.

The new Melbourne and Cairns flights will take to three the major domestic destinations served from Wellcamp after QantasLink commenced services from Sydney to the newly-opened airport in Novwmbwe 2014.

“We have had overwhelming support from within our region and we can now offer weekday and weekend getaways to three of Australia’s most popular destinations,” Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport general manager Phil Gregory said in a statement.

“We are also confident we will continue the growth of the visiting friends and relatives market as more people will have direct access into the region.”

Airnorth’s initial Wellcamp schedule.