The group greeted Jin Air representatives including Mr Ko, Vice President Network and Sales Division, and Korean based representatives of Tourism Australia and Tourism and Events Queensland, as they disembarked.
Cairns Airport Chief Executive Officer, Norris Carter, welcomed Jin Air as the airport’s newest airline partner.
“We are honoured to have the first Jin Air flight ever into Australia arrive here in Cairns today,” Mr Carter said.
“When we met with Jin Air over a year ago to discuss potential flights to Cairns they were very keen to establish a direct connection for South Korean people to arrive into our Northern Australia gateway to experience the Great Barrier Reef. They were also impressed with the excellent domestic network that Cairns offers, giving visitors the opportunity for convenient travel to other parts of Australia.”
“Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef is already proving a popular holiday choice for the Korean market with the International Visitor Survey for the year ending September 2016 recording 10,800 Korean visitors. This is also reflected in our airport passenger numbers which showed a 25% increase in the number of Koreans arriving into Cairns Airport on international services during the year ending October 2016.”
“We welcome Jin Air’s initial seasonal service of 16 return flights operating through to mid-February as the start of a long and successful partnership that will support even further growth in Korean visitor numbers. We have already discussed a further seasonal service operating later in 2017 and for that to lead on to a year round service.”
“We sincerely thank our tourism partners, Tourism Australia, Tourism and Events Queensland and Tourism Tropical North Queensland for their support in bringing Jin Air to Cairns.”
Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan said that in terms of arrivals and visitor spending, South Korea has been Australia’s fastest growing inbound market in 2016.
“The work that’s been done in market in the past few years is really starting to pay dividends,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“Future growth in this vital market is heavily dependent upon improving aviation access and securing additional capacity, which is why Jin Air’s new services to Cairns are so important. Tourism and Events Queensland and Cairns Airport should be warmly congratulated on the work they’ve put into securing such a great tourism outcome for Tropical North Queensland’s tourism industry,” he said.
The 777 aircraft Jin Air are operating on the route offer 390 economy seats. The inaugural flight was almost at capacity with 370 passengers arriving into Cairns.