news, latest-news

Tigerair has ramped up its commitment to the national capital and will introduce three weekly return services between Canberra and Brisbane in September. The low-cost airline will also add an extra Friday return flight from Canberra to Melbourne. It's understood Tigerair will offer regular fares between Brisbane and Canberra from $109. Qantas one-way fares for September 14 were being advertised online yesterday from $214 while Virgin had some seats available at $139 and others from $225. Tigerair is a fully owned subsidiary of Virgin Australia. Tigerair Australia chief executive Rob Sharp said the additional services were a direct response to overwhelming consumer demand. "Canberrans have truly embraced Tigerair's great value fares and friendly service," he said. "We have had a fantastic customer response to our Melbourne-Canberra services since we launched them in December last year. "With eight weekly return services from Melbourne and three from Brisbane, Tigerair Australia will be providing close to 4000 seats weekly through Canberra Airport or more than 200,000 seats annually to the doorstep of the nation's capital city." To promote the announcement, Tigerair is running a special Brisbane-Canberra online sale from noon today until 11.59pm Saturday [or until sold out], with a limited number of $10 one-way fares for the inaugural flights on September 14. Latest data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics showed the Brisbane-Canberra route was the 23rd busiest in Australia, with 582,000 passengers carried in the 12 months ending March 2017. Passenger numbers grew 3.7 per cent compared with the previous year. A Tigerair spokesman said a combination of A320 and 737 aircraft would operate on the Canberra-Brisbane route. Both have a capacity of 180 passengers. Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron said the announcement was a "huge win" for the Canberra region. Mr Byron said the "immense success" of Tigerair's Canberra-Melbourne service had prompted the airline to expand. "It's great news for the city's tourist venues and the economies of the ACT and the wider southern region," he said. ACT chief minister Andrew Barr welcomed the decision. "Tigerair flights between Brisbane and Canberra come off the back of record domestic visitors to the capital last year – and is a sign of the growing status of Canberra as a tourism destination," Mr Barr said. "I welcome Tigerair's commitment to the ACT and I look forward to welcoming more visitors from Queensland to the capital." The new services from September 14 will depart Canberra on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 1.05pm. Flights will depart Brisbane at 10.15am on Tuesday, 10.30am Thursday and 10.45am Sunday. An extra Friday flight to Melbourne will begin on September 15, departing 3.55pm, taking the weekly total to eight. "We are expecting the additional Friday service will prove popular with our core market of budget and leisure travellers," the spokesman said.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/a40d3425-b686-419e-af03-47bfd544157a/r0_105_1643_1033_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg