A new airline for Cairns, and Australia, was greeted with an official welcome when it touched down at Cairns Airport this afternoon.
Cairns Airport Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Brown, said Hong Kong Airlines are operating a seasonal service into Cairns for the next three months, covering the 2016 Chinese New Year period and beyond.
“It is the first time this Chinese airline has operated a service to Australia and Cairns Airport is proud that Cairns is included on their inaugural Australian route,” Mr Brown said. “It is quite a coup for our destination and it was our honour to meet and greet the VIP group of airline and travel wholesale company officials arriving on board today’s flight.”
“The flights, which started on Saturday, 9 January, mark the official start of Chinese New Year international services for Cairns Airport. However even prior to Christmas we were seeing good numbers of Chinese passengers arriving through T2 (Domestic Terminal) and aboard other international services including Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong flights and SilkAir’s Singapore flights.”
Cairns Airport GM Aeronautical, Janice Antonson, said the service was secured through a successful collaborative partnership between Cairns Airport, Gold Coast Airport and Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ).
“There are three return services per week, every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday, flying from Hong Kong on a triangulated route between Cairns and the Gold Coast,” Ms Antonson said.
“The Hong Kong Airlines seasonal service will provide an excellent boost to the number of visitors coming to Cairns for Chinese New Year holidays, stimulating our vital tourism industry. The flights have been marketed to mainland Chinese residents living in secondary cities with good load factors achieved. This has also helped raise the profile of the Cairns and Great Barrier Reef region among those with aspirations to visit here in the future.”
“From this Saturday we will also welcome a daily China Eastern Airlines return service from Shanghai, operating at that frequency until 21 February, followed by three return flights per week until 30 April.”
“China Eastern and Hong Kong Airlines together will operate around 100 flights into Cairns with the potential to carry around 25,000 passengers.”
“With around 20,000 people arriving into Cairns from China for the Chinese New Year period in past years, including many thousand who arrive here on domestic services, these flights will be an enormous boost to our total visitor numbers during this increasingly important period.”
Mr Brown said the Hong Kong and China Eastern Airlines services follow several other new direct international services which commenced at Cairns Airport during 2015.
“These included SilkAir’s Singapore service, Jetstar flights from Bali and the Manila-Cairns-Auckland service by Philippine Airlines.”
“All these services are contributing to strong growth in international passenger numbers, boosting our region’s tourism industry and generating significant revenue and employment for the regional and state economy.”