SINGAPORE Airlines’ announcement for international flights to land at Canberra Airport from September could spell opportunities for foreign investment and tourism, provided travellers do not mind the night flights.
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Orange Travel director Gai Fardell said they would fly into Canberra at 8.45am four days a week on the way to Wellington in New Zealand.
A flight to Singapore would take off from Canberra at 11.30pm, meaning night flights in both directions.
“It’s a good airline flying in there and it’s easier to drive from Orange to Canberra than Orange to Sydney,” she said.
“The disadvantage is the night flights, but they’re building a new lounge that’s going to cost them $25 million, so anything like that always helps.”
Early reports indicated return flights to Singapore would cost from $650 and from $469 for a return flight to Wellington.
Ms Fardell said the prices would be confirmed today when flights were put on sale, and travellers would be able to connect to other flights to Europe from Singapore.
However, she said most regular business travellers from Orange who flew to Singapore would still be likely to use Kingsford Smith Airport because they flew with Rex, which did not fly to Canberra.
Brand Orange executive officer Rhonda Sear said it was an incredible opportunity for Orange because it was on Canberra’s fringe.
“I think the most important thing is to meet with the businesses concerned and also the chamber [of commerce] in Canberra as to what their plans are and see if we can build a partnership with the marketing of these flights,” she said.
Ms Sear said about 4 per cent of the visitors to FOOD Week last year were international visitors and it was growing.
“Having international flights into Canberra is taking these people into regional NSW,” she said.
“We’re seeing an increase of interest out of Asia, not only in visitation, but potential investment. They live in the city and they want to get into every food and wine region because it’s something that’s unique, particularly in regard to China where they struggle to feed their own people and they’re looking at food investments for export.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 7.1 million overseas travellers arrived in Australia during 2014-15 and 375,000 of them came from Singapore.
danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au
