Sky-high petrol: it's almost cheaper to fly

[Justin L]

Would there be "airport" codes for the sea take off points in Newcastle and at Rose Bay?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...468331459.html

Sky-high petrol: it's almost cheaper to fly

Linton Besser
June 17, 2008

DRIVE to Newcastle from Sydney for work, and the Tax Office will reimburse you at least $93. But now, for just $6 extra, you can fly direct to the former steel town from salubrious Rose Bay.

In a flashback to the days when the grand old Empire-class flying boats left the harbour bound for prewar London, a commuter service took off yesterday, delivering business types direct to Newcastle's growing harbourfront development in just 30 minutes.

At a time when big airlines are cutting routes around Australia and overseas, four return flights a day have been scheduled between the two city centres on a 12-seat, $3 million Cessna Caravan.

"There is a huge number of people who drive between Sydney and Newcastle each day," Aaron Shaw, owner of Sydney Sea Planes, said. "And the F3 is so unreliable, it can turn into a four-hour drive very easily."

In a climate of rising fuel prices, Mr Shaw is so confident about the viability of the business that he has ambitions to open similar commuter services to other locations, including Lake Illawarra, south of Wollongong, and Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.

But word of mouth takes a little while to spread. On the first day of scheduled services yesterday, just a handful of passengers took advantage of the cheap fares.

One was Kate Walsh, 14, a boarder at Kincoppal Rose Bay, whose parents live in Newcastle. It was a "one-off", she said, that her friends thought was "pretty cool". "But it was lots of fun - you could see the coastline all the way south."

[Ryan N]

$99 one way is the cheapest online fare at the moment. I don't think it will cost $90 in petrol from Sydney to Newcastle, unless you drive a tank!!!!

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by Ryan N

$99 one way is the cheapest online fare at the moment. I don't think it will cost $90 in petrol from Sydney to Newcastle, unless you drive a tank!!!!

what about a 4WD like a nissan petrol (tank), stuck in peak hour traffic plus congestion on the F3 with air condition on all the way?

[David Knudsen]

is Newcastle still about 160k's from Sydney or has it moved further away recently??

[Ryan N]

Just doing a time comparison here.

Assuming it takes 20 minutes to drive from the CBD to Rose Bay (I'm not going to pay 4 bucks to go through the Cross City Tunnel), then 15 minutes to check in for the flight, 30 minutes flying time, then another 15 minutes to travel to Newcastle CBD. That's a total of 80 minutes.

Driving will take just over 2 hours, while travelling by train is about 3 hours.

As people say, time is money, and this is very true here.