UP IN THE AIR: Rex could soon have some opposition in Orange.
BRINDABELLA Airlines could provide competition for Regional Express on its Orange to Sydney run although the Canberra based carrier is more coy about its intentions than Sydney Airport Corporation.
The airport’s manager of corporate affairs said Brindabella Airlines “is adding two daily services to Orange”.
The chief executive officer of Airport Coordination Australia, which controls flight movements in and out of Australian airports, Ernst Krolke, confirmed Brindabella had asked for two slots at Sydney airport for a service to Orange.
“Brindabella has applied for and has been allocated the slots,“ Mr Krolke said.
Mr Krolke could not say when the Brindabella service would commence but said any slots allocated to a carrier had to be used or they would go back into the slot pool.
“There is a waiting list for slots,” he said.
However in statement the airline’s chief Ian Vanderbeek, denied Brindabella was preparing to start a service to Orange.
“We most definitely don’t have slots there [for Orange] and have no current plans to fly into Orange.”
The airline would not comment on whether Orange featured in future plans.
After the CWD published a story last week quoting a local aviator as saying Brindabella was keen to fly to Orange but was stymied by a lack of landing slots at Sydney the corporation responded, saying there was capacity for regional flights and Brindabella planned to use it.
In a letter rejecting calls by aviator Wade Mahlo for the state government to push ahead with a second Sydney airport to improve regional access the airport corporation said Brindabella was adding two daily services to Orange.
“.. It is just the latest of a number of carriers to announce capacity increases on services to regional Australia,” the corporation said.
Corporate affairs manager Sally Fielke said only 60 per cent of Sydney airport’s slots were currently being used.
“Our new vision to transform the airport into two common terminals, both catering to international, domestic, and regional services, would provide capacity to at least 2045 and in fact would give regional passengers better access than ever to connecting international and domestic services.”
Brindabella Airlines operates an extensive network of regional routes to Sydney, including Tamworth and Mudgee.
