isnt Jetgo commited to Griffith?
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Airline dogfight with new carrier in the mix
REX’S monopoly hold over the city is about to be broken.
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A new airline has confirmed it will pick up the dumped Griffith to Melbourne route, with a start date likely to be announced in the next two weeks.
In addition to the Melbourne route, the new carrier has long-term plans to link Griffith to several capital cities, as well as offering direct flights to other regional centres for the first time.
It has also promised a capped fare structure, where ticket prices will be the same whether they’re booked 30 days in advance or 30 minutes before the flight.
The name of the carrier will be kept under wraps until the launch for commercial in-confidence reasons.
The Melbourne route will be serviced by two jet-engine aircraft, which will fly between Griffith and Melbourne twice a day. Each one-way trip is expected to take less than 40 minutes.
Griffith City Council has been working with the airline since early May, when Rex announced it was no longer viable to operate between Griffith and Melbourne.
Griffith mayor Mike Neville said the results of a survey conducted by council and the new carrier last month would be used to determine the flight schedule.
“It’s a pretty positive sign that another airline has done the sums and determined that it is viable to fly between Griffith and Melbourne,” Cr Neville said.
“The schedule will allow businesspeople from Melbourne to get here daily and people from Griffith to travel to Melbourne for business, health, education or any other reason.
“That’s a big deal for us so we’re pleased that this airline saw the opportunity and chose to take it.”
A spokesman for the airline said community consultation would be carried out regularly to ensure scheduling and pricing continued to meet local needs.
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He said airline management was in the advanced stages of finalising a number of routes through Airservices Australia and would make an announcement as soon as landing times in Melbourne had been confirmed.
“I’ve listened to the people of Griffith about timing instead of just telling them when they can fly,” the spokesman said.
“We are mindful of the fact the Griffith will lose it’s Melbourne service on July 1 and we will work very hard to uptake the service at that time.”
The airline’s owners and management will be in Griffith this week to finalise arrangements with council.