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Silkair to start new Cairns flights from May

written by australianaviation.com.au | November 5, 2014

Silkair will use newly delivered Boeing 737-800 aircraft to Cairns. (Boeing)
Silkair will use newly delivered Boeing 737-800 aircraft to fly to Cairns. (Boeing)

In a boost to North Queensland tourism, Singapore Airlines-owned regional carrier Silkair will fly to Cairns from its Singapore hub from May 30 2015.

Cairns will be Silkair’s second Australian destination, following the launch of direct service to Darwin in March 2012.

“This is an exciting development for SilkAir, to be able to expand our presence in the Australian market,” Silkair chief executive Leslie Thng said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We believe this new service will be of interest to the leisure travellers as Cairns is well known for being the gateway to the popular Great Barrier Reef.”

Silkair and Singapore Airlines will operate to seven Australian destinations – Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney – once the new flights launch in May 2015.

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The airline will fly from Singapore to Cairns via Darwin on Mondays and Thursdays, with a non-stop flight on Saturdays.

The return from Cairns to Singapore will be non-stop on Mondays and Thursdays, while those heading to the city-state or beyond on Saturdays will travel via Darwin.

The airline said the route would be flown by Boeing 737-800 aircraft with business and economy class.

Cairns Airport chief executive Kevin Brown said the new services would provide vital links from North Queensland to Asia and Europe and make it easier for overseas tourists to visit the Great Barrier Reef.

Queensland Minister for Tourism Jann Stuckey said Silkair was expected to deliver about 20,000 extra visitors to the region, with the route to generate $14 million in visitor spending during its first year of operation.

Stuckey said the route was supported by the state government’s Aviation Investment Fund.

“The Queensland government looks forward to working in partnership with SilkAir to deliver international marketing activities over the next three years to support this highly anticipated service,” Stuckey said in a statement.

Singapore Airlines owns about 23 per cent of Virgin Australia and the two carriers have a codeshare agreement, deep alliance and reciprocal frequent flyer arrangement across their respective networks.

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Comments (7)

  • random

    says:

    This is the sort of service Townsville has been dreaming about.

  • Clinton

    says:

    I doubt silkair would ever go to townsville its a premium product, people who normally catch the bus are not welcome

  • Debbie

    says:

    This is a triangular service serving Cairns in the Far North Queensland region, not the North Queensland region. The service is a triangular run and people in Darwin will scream as coming from Singapore they will have to come via Cairns on one flight of the three and come via Cairns on two flights to travel to Singapore. It is a triangular service that really serves no purpose for Darwin so let’s keep Darwin out of the service altogether and make it a Singapore-Cairns-Singapore service. This shows that Brisbanites have no idea about regional Australia.

  • Ken Quirk

    says:

    Silkair is a very efficient and attractive airline but also very expensive. What would be the cost of a return Cairns Singapore?

  • Stephen Bottom

    says:

    Kills off any chance of Scoot adding Cairns to its network. But top shelf news for Cairns…Welcome Silk

  • Kate

    says:

    This is very exciting news for Cairns and about time we have more direct flights from our international airport. I hope more airlines will follow. Well done Silkair I look forward to travelling with you next year.

  • Jane

    says:

    Sounds fantastic but I agree with Ken Q – Silkair is usually expensive, so whether peple use the airlines or not will depend almost solely on price. Silkair will need to offer an equivelent price on their direct Cairns-Singapore flight that is presently offered Cairns-Darwin-Singapore or Cairns- Gold Coast- Singapore. Most people travel on a budget and if the inconvenience of poor connections in Darwin means a much cheaper holiday/ or a holiday at all so be it. I’ll be travelling with a family so price is the ultimate factor in determining which airlines I’ll choose.
    Cheers

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