Mr BONSON - 2003-06-17
Ease of access into and out of the Northern Territory is of critical importance to our tourism industry. What progress has been made to expand aviation services into the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Aviation is of critical importance to the Territory. Since 11 September and the outbreak of SARS, there has been a great decrease in airline capacity into the Territory. The purpose of my answering this question is to put things in perspective as to where we are at this point in time compared to 11 September and the collapse of Ansett.
As most people would be aware, Virgin started flying into Darwin five times a week commencing on the weekend. That adds tremendous capacity and a direct route to one of our major markets which is Sydney. Our domestic capacity, with Virgin Blue coming on stream with direct flights into Darwin from Sydney brings the capacity about to where it was pre 11 September. That is very important.
In addition, as most people would be aware, Virgin Blue is flying into Alice Springs on a daily basis. It was my pleasure to join the first flight into Alice Springs. Once again, come July, the capacity into Alice Springs will actually be slightly higher than pre 11 September. That is a very positive thing for the Alice Springs community.
I am aware the shadow tourism minister seems to think that I am not aware of the problems that face the tourism industry in Alice Springs. Yes, I am aware of it, but the government with the Northern Territory Airports Corporation and the jointly funded position of Mr Peter Roberts as the Aviation Development Director have worked very, very hard with Virgin Blue to build up domestic capacity.
On the way to Sydney to take the flight to Alice Springs, I met with Virgin Blue executives in Brisbane. I put to them the importance of other routes in the Territory, not least between Darwin and Alice Springs, and also connections to Adelaide. I got the very strong feeling that that is on the agenda, I am glad to say. Virgin Blue are acquiring two aircraft a month between August and the end of the year, bringing the total to eight aircraft. They will be well placed to expand their services into the Territory and I welcome that.
International capacity is still substantially down, not just on pre 11 September 2001. There has been a gradual decrease over the years in the way in which international airline capacity has served the Territory. However, 80% of our international visitors to the Territory do come through Sydney Airport, so it is good to see more capacity out of Sydney with Virgin Blue into Alice Springs and Darwin.
A couple of weeks ago, I flagged an important announcement to do with charter flights, and I will come to that in a minute. I would like to flag also that there are negotiations progressing with a number of international carriers for direct flights involving Darwin and New Zealand. I am quietly confident that progress will be made, and hopefully we will have some positive announcements on that front.
Royal Brunei has confirmed a third weekly service into Darwin commencing in October. I commend the work Penni Tastula does with Royal Brunei. She is a great advocate for them, and it is through her efforts that we get a very good service from Royal Brunei.
Charter flights into Alice Springs were announced a week or so ago. Kintetsu International are bringing three charter flights into Alice in August. Each one of those 767-300 aircraft have a seating capacity of 220. That will be great for Central Australia when Alice Springs becomes an international airport to receive those charters which, essentially, will be Qantas planes. They are operated by Qantas, with strong marketing support by the NT Tourist Commission, the Australian Tourist Commission and Kintetsu’s subsidiary company, Club Tourism. The Northern Territory Tourist Commission will be contributing $100 000 to joint marketing. Speaking to some of the Japanese operators of Kintetsu at the Australian Tourism Exchange yesterday and the day before, they are very confident of filling those flights. They are testing the water, and if they are successful they will keep going and we may see many more charters into Central Australia along a similar line. The Japanese visitors are expected to inject over $1.2m into the Central Australian economy, which is very important.
We know that the tourism industry has been doing it tough, but the signs are there, with this extra airline capacity and the marketing effort that is going on, for recovery in tourism. There are many passionate tourism operators out there committed to Northern Territory tourism. We have a great product; we have a great Territory; we have great people, and I look forward to the future with confidence.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Aviation is of critical importance to the Territory. Since 11 September and the outbreak of SARS, there has been a great decrease in airline capacity into the Territory. The purpose of my answering this question is to put things in perspective as to where we are at this point in time compared to 11 September and the collapse of Ansett.
As most people would be aware, Virgin started flying into Darwin five times a week commencing on the weekend. That adds tremendous capacity and a direct route to one of our major markets which is Sydney. Our domestic capacity, with Virgin Blue coming on stream with direct flights into Darwin from Sydney brings the capacity about to where it was pre 11 September. That is very important.
In addition, as most people would be aware, Virgin Blue is flying into Alice Springs on a daily basis. It was my pleasure to join the first flight into Alice Springs. Once again, come July, the capacity into Alice Springs will actually be slightly higher than pre 11 September. That is a very positive thing for the Alice Springs community.
I am aware the shadow tourism minister seems to think that I am not aware of the problems that face the tourism industry in Alice Springs. Yes, I am aware of it, but the government with the Northern Territory Airports Corporation and the jointly funded position of Mr Peter Roberts as the Aviation Development Director have worked very, very hard with Virgin Blue to build up domestic capacity.
On the way to Sydney to take the flight to Alice Springs, I met with Virgin Blue executives in Brisbane. I put to them the importance of other routes in the Territory, not least between Darwin and Alice Springs, and also connections to Adelaide. I got the very strong feeling that that is on the agenda, I am glad to say. Virgin Blue are acquiring two aircraft a month between August and the end of the year, bringing the total to eight aircraft. They will be well placed to expand their services into the Territory and I welcome that.
International capacity is still substantially down, not just on pre 11 September 2001. There has been a gradual decrease over the years in the way in which international airline capacity has served the Territory. However, 80% of our international visitors to the Territory do come through Sydney Airport, so it is good to see more capacity out of Sydney with Virgin Blue into Alice Springs and Darwin.
A couple of weeks ago, I flagged an important announcement to do with charter flights, and I will come to that in a minute. I would like to flag also that there are negotiations progressing with a number of international carriers for direct flights involving Darwin and New Zealand. I am quietly confident that progress will be made, and hopefully we will have some positive announcements on that front.
Royal Brunei has confirmed a third weekly service into Darwin commencing in October. I commend the work Penni Tastula does with Royal Brunei. She is a great advocate for them, and it is through her efforts that we get a very good service from Royal Brunei.
Charter flights into Alice Springs were announced a week or so ago. Kintetsu International are bringing three charter flights into Alice in August. Each one of those 767-300 aircraft have a seating capacity of 220. That will be great for Central Australia when Alice Springs becomes an international airport to receive those charters which, essentially, will be Qantas planes. They are operated by Qantas, with strong marketing support by the NT Tourist Commission, the Australian Tourist Commission and Kintetsu’s subsidiary company, Club Tourism. The Northern Territory Tourist Commission will be contributing $100 000 to joint marketing. Speaking to some of the Japanese operators of Kintetsu at the Australian Tourism Exchange yesterday and the day before, they are very confident of filling those flights. They are testing the water, and if they are successful they will keep going and we may see many more charters into Central Australia along a similar line. The Japanese visitors are expected to inject over $1.2m into the Central Australian economy, which is very important.
We know that the tourism industry has been doing it tough, but the signs are there, with this extra airline capacity and the marketing effort that is going on, for recovery in tourism. There are many passionate tourism operators out there committed to Northern Territory tourism. We have a great product; we have a great Territory; we have great people, and I look forward to the future with confidence.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016