Air North - OOL/ISA/DRW

[David B.]

Effective 08OCT

DRW/ISA 06:00L/08:15L TL170
ISA/OOL 08:55L/11:10L TL170

OOL/ISA 11:55L/14:30L TL171
ISA/DRW 15:10L/16:30L TL171

Operates once weekly on Thursdays.

Cheers

[Jarden S]

Here is the news story from the Brisbane times:

Qld tourism gets boost from new airline serviceSeptember 2, 2009 - 6:43PM .
The tourism industries in Queensland and the Northern Territory are being given a boost, with a new airline service set to begin flights between the Gold Coast, Mount Isa and Darwin.

The Airnorth services will initially run weekly, starting from October 8, 2009.

Gold Coast Airport boss Paul Donovan says the flights will provide key benefits to the tourism industry.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to link key iconic destinations within Australia, from the beaches of the Gold Coast to the Outback in Mount Isa and to the tropics of Darwin," Mr Donovan said in a statement.

Airnorth deputy chief executive Simone Saunders said the service will start in time for the peak holiday period.

Gold Coast Airport currently has daily services to Japan and New Zealand as well as six times weekly services to Kuala Lumpur.

AAP

[Dave Parer]

Article in today's Mt Isa newspaper

http://www.northweststar.com.au/news...e/1613308.aspx

[Jarden S]

Its and interesting route DRW-ISA-OOL shame they can't do a non stop maybe lack of range. Good if they can increase the frequency over time. The next destination Air North could look at would be a canberra to darwin link if the E190 not have the range could they run a flight via Alice springs.

[Andi O]

I hope it works, but I give it 3 months before it quietly disappears. Hardly a high yeilding route.

Please prove me wrong!!!

[Mick F]

Andi,
Being a Mount Isa resident, if Air North can do 2 things then the route may be successful. Those being to increase the frequency, and keep the airfares cheap.

Provided they can do those, then I see it as being a possible success. Currently we have Qantas as the only air operator to run to Brisbane (you could count Skytrans via their all stations stop, but it takes all day and is expensive), and they are quite expensive on the route.

Give us another cheaper option, and we'll definitely use it, .

Mick

[Chris Fox]

The E170AR has the range to get from DRW to all Australian capitals, I would say they have made the decision to go through ISA on a business case. Lets hope they can build frequency as a once per week service may be difficult to promote.

[Jarden S]

So its got a really long range the E170AR so it can reach all the capitals non stop from Darwin does that include Hobart. Now a Darwin -Hobart service that would be a long flight 4 hours plus.

[Dave Parer]

Inaugural service yesterday;

http://www.northweststar.com.au/news...n/1645160.aspx

[Arthur T]

Good to see the new service started...
How's the loading on the new route last Thursday?