Strategic to start BNE-TSV-DPS

[Jarden S]

TOWNSVILLE'S international air services drought will soon be over with the announcement today by Strategic Airlines that it will provide the first ever direct flights from Townsville to Denpasar in Bali, commencing December 3.

The wholly Australian-owned airline will provide the only international flights currently available from Townsville, creating unprecedented leisure travel opportunities for the communities of north and north-western Queensland.

Strategic will operate the twice-weekly flights, departing Townsville every Friday and Sunday, with an Airbus A320 featuring 12 business class seats and 144 economy seats.

To coincide with the new international service, the airline is also launching twice-weekly direct flights between Brisbane and Townsville from December 3.

The airline will offer an introductory one-way Townsville to Bali fare of $199 while fares from Brisbane to Townsville start at $89 one-way.

Strategic's head of commercial, Damien Vasta, said the carrier was creating an international service out of regional Queensland to fulfil a growing need for local and regional residents, tourists, and sectors such as mining.

"Townsville is maturing as a regional centre," Mr Vasta said.

"It has a strong economy, the city is being revitalised and the population base is expanding.

"It is also a hub for those living and working in regional mining centres like Mount Isa, Cloncurry and Charters Towers, all of which have a direct connection to Townsville by road or air.

"In addition, Townsville has a healthy tourism industry and visitors arriving here from cities such as Mackay and Cairns now have the ability to travel on to Bali easily and cost effectively.

"Our Townsville-Denpasar service, particularly with its weekend scheduling, opens up a whole new range of leisure travel options for all of these groups.

"The direct flights make the trip very affordable and people will now find it easier to explore holiday packages in Bali, whether they want to stay there for three nights, six nights, eight nights or more.

"Queenslanders have always had an affinity with Bali, and our new service puts Bali holidays within better reach for many people who live in the northern and north-western regions of our state."

Mr Vasta said the Brisbane-Townsville service had been introduced to match rising demand from both the leisure and business markets.

"By establishing flights between these cities we are providing more competitively priced leisure travel to Townsville, and giving businesses more schedules to choose from, with the added comfort of business class seating," he said.

From December 3, Strategic Airlines flights will depart Townsville Airport each Friday and Sunday afternoon at 1.30pm and arrive in Denpasar at 4.45pm.

The return flights will depart Denpasar at 9.30am every Saturday and Monday morning, and arrive back in Townsville at 4.15pm.

Bookings can be made online at www.flystrategic.com.au from Friday, September 17

Source:http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au...0641_news.html

[Gareth U]

Strictly speaking, wouldn't Garuda's TSV-CNS-DPS flights of the 90s been classed as direct?

TOWNSVILLE'S international air services drought will soon be over

Did this make anyone else laugh out loud? 2 DPS services and the drought is gone!

[Bob C]

I would define a direct service as one without any stops.

[Jarden S]

I wonder if strategic will launch more flights from TSV maybe 2 a week to AKL. Maybe Jetstar will jump in now as they may not like remaining on the fence as they are at the moment.

[David F]

Originally Posted by Bob C

I would define a direct service as one without any stops.

That would be a non-stop flight. A direct flight can have stops but keeps the same flight number.