Qantas To Begin Darwin-canberra Services

QANTAS TO BEGIN DIRECT DARWIN-CANBERRA SERVICES

DARWIN, 12 NOVEMBER 2009: Qantas announced today that it would commence non-stop direct services between Darwin and Canberra, from February 2010.

Qantas Regional General Manager Northern Territory John Cason said the airline's new service was in response to demand from the government and business sectors, and was recognition of the strong growth that Darwin was experiencing.

"Qantas is experiencing a high level of demand from government and business customers on our existing flights that connect the eastern seaboard cities to the Territory, and as well as there being strong demand for travel between Canberra and Darwin, Canberra is a key hub for people wanting to travel to the Territory from both Melbourne and Sydney," he said.

"We are very pleased to be able to offer this customer base a direct return service which will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays each week.

"The new services are also timed to enable customers travelling on the Darwin-Canberra sector to connect with Qantas' Canberra-Melbourne services as they will depart Canberra at 9:30am and arrive in Darwin at 12:25pm before operating south again from Darwin at 1:10pm, returning to Canberra at 6:50pm.

"We are also certain that this new service will further enable tourism development opportunities between the two cities, as well as offer Territorians more choice and flexibility when travelling south for business."

Mr Cason added that the new Canberra-Darwin return services were a demonstration of the airline's two-brand growth strategy for the Northern Territory, where Qantas and Jetstar are able to connect Northern Territory based customers to a range of both business and leisure destinations across the Qantas Group network.

All services on the new route will be operated by 168-seat B737-800 aircraft with full business and economy class product and service.

Qantas is offering a special introductory sale fare of $179* one-way on sale from 12-20 November for travel between 1 February and 30 April available via Qantas.com.

*All fares are inclusive of GST. Booking fees may be incurred when booking through agents.

Issued by Qantas Corporate Communication (Q3975)
Media Enquiries:
Kristy McSweeney
02 9691 3013

Qantas Airways Limited ABN 16 009 661 901

Further information and media releases can be found at the Qantas website: qantas.com

SOURCE: Qantas