QantasLink begins PoM-Cairns swing

PAPUA New Guinea has become the first international flight destination for QantasLink, Australia’s largest regional airline.
The airline’s head of sales and marketing Elsa D’Allesio yesterday said QantasLink Q400 network covered 54 destinations across Australia, with Port Moresby making the 55th destination and the airline’s first overseas route.
The Q400 flies a direct route from Port Moresby to Cairns, with 12 return flights each week, double daily on weekdays and daily on weekends.
D’Alessio said their expansion had been the result of an innovative strategy with over A$600 million invested in a new fleet of 21 Q400 aircrafts in 2006.
“Today, almost four years later, we have a brand-new fleet, the last of which is now dedicated on the Port Moresby-Cairns route,” she said.
D’Alessio said the QantasLink was the first airline to bring the aircraft to Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, and to also launch it to the PNG market.
D’Alessio said customers travelling on the new service would also take advantage of all Qantas benefits.
“On behalf of QuantasLink, I would like to say that as a company, we are very proud to be the pioneering aviators of this magnificent aircraft to this magnificent country,” she said.
Regional general manager Queensland and PNG Andrew Hogg, who flew on the aircraft from Australia yesterday, said Qantas, through the Q400, would continue to boost economic growth in both countries and the world.
Australian High Commissioner Ian Kemish, NCD Governor Powes Parkop, partners and guests were treated to a 10-minute scenic flight over Central to get a feel of the new aircraft.
The aircraft made its first journey to Port Moresby on July 1 at the end of the code share agreement with Air Niugini.