Kangaroo island connections

The Kangaroo Island Council also anticipates a lift in high-vale exports, such as seafood, with the additional air freight capacity.

The national airline’s QantasLink subsidiary will operate five services a week between Adelaide and the island’s Kingscote airport in the summer months, reducing to three a week in the off-season between April and November, and operate three times a week between Melbourne and Kingscote during the two-month summer peak.

Qantas introduced similar services in 2005 but they were abandoned the following year after dismal loads of 40 percent from Adelaide and 25 percent from Melbourne.

The withdrawal left the field to Regional Express (Rex), which operates two return services a day from Adelaide and up to three a day in the peak with its 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft. Rex has 13 aircraft based at Adelaide Airport, serving six regional South Australian centres, as well as Broken Hill.

It had not responded to the return of QantasLink at the time of going to press.

This time around, Qantas has gained marketing support from the SA Tourism Commission, as part of the deal to reintroduce services, and the island boasts additional and improved facilities and services for tourists in the past decade or so.

The timing of the services will coincide with the expected opening of a major upgrade of the Kingscote airport, costing $18 million and jointly funded by the Commonwealth and State governments.

The work was first mooted in 2012 and put forward by the Kangaroo Island Council under a business plan two years ago and is now well under way.

It includes an expanded passenger terminal, with a separate area for screening passengers, and a lengthened and strengthened runway, which will easily accommodate the QantasLink 50-seat Dash 8 Q300s from Adelaide, where two are based for present Port Lincoln and Whyalla services, and the Q400s from Melbourne. QantasLink has indicated it will increase fleet efficiency with the Kingscote service, and not require an additional aircraft in Adelaide.

Extending the main 01/19 paved runway from the present 1402 metres to December’s 1812 metres also would enable regional jets, such as QantasLink’s Boeing 717s, Fokker F100s and RJ100s to use the airport. The council is cagey about this prospect but admits to talking to potential operators about such routes as Sydney-Kingscote-Uluru.

Before work began on the main runway, the alternate runway, 15/33, was extended by 221 metres and paved to avoid disruption to Rex’s twice-daily services between Adelaide and Kingscote.

The SA Premier, Jay Weatherill, has describes the island as one of the country’s “great natural wonders” with its rugged landscapes, national parks, pristine waters and abundant wildlife.

He has lauded the Qantas decision, which he expects to attract “thousands” more people to the island, creating jobs and accelerating economic growth.

Adelaide Airport welcomed the return of the QantasLink Dash 8s to Kangaroo Island (the airline also withdrew its Adelaide-Port Lincoln services in 2006, but reinstated them later).

The airport’s chief executive Mark Young said the Qantas services, with a 35-minute flight time, would significantly improve access for tourists and island residents.

And QantasLink chief executive John Gissing said the new route – the regional airline’s 55th – would encourage Australians and international travellers to explore the island’s natural beauty and unique wildlife.

“The island has huge potential for growth as a tourist destination and is a fast-growing premium travel market,” he said.

However, apart from attracting passengers to the 20,000 seats QantasLink plans to provide annually, the airline and island’s tourism operators face another problem – insufficient peak-time accommodation.

The Kangaroo Island mayor, Peter Clements, admits the island’s array of accommodation in B&Bs, holiday homes, cabins and motel rooms is fully booked during the summer months, although curiously hotel rooms are often available.

He is “very, very pleased” to see plans for more accommodation on the island, although stressing tourist development must be sustainable, to avoid spoiling the island’s natural environment.

Immediately ahead is a substantial $22 million resort to be built on a 32 hectare site at American River. Eventually, it will contain 323 rooms in a four-storey hotel, 10 seven-storey apartment “lodges”, 10 cottages and 10 cabins.

The project, by City and Central Consulting, a consortium which includes a Hong Kong-based construction company, will be built in three stages, with the first stage incorporating the hotel, some cabins and a wine lodge, due to open next May, with site works about to start.

Kangaroo Island Council chief executive Andrew Boardman told Australian Aviation the first stage would offer 120 rooms. The final stage is not expected to be completed until about 2022, under the conditions of the State Government’s major project approval.

Meanwhile, he said, plans were being developed for an extension of existing hotel accommodation in Kingscote, and for a new hotel on a central site in the main town. It was proposed to have about 160 rooms.

Also in sight is a golf resort project at Pelican Lagoon, where a major international golf course is being planned, and talks being held with developers for a resort of 75 to 150 rooms as part of the project.

They will add international-standard accommodation to the exclusive Southern Ocean Lodge at Hanson Bay.

The $10 million deluxe wilderness resort on a spectacular clifftop was built in 2008 by James and Hayley Baillie. She is entrepreneur and helicopter pilot Dick Smith’s daughter so, naturally, there is a helipad at the remote site, which has gained international acclaim. It has prices to match its status – $1200 to $2200 a night per person but that includes all dining, an open bar and airport transfers.

It has set an imposing standard for the island, and generated international publicity for Kangaroo Island.

Now Qantas has added another dimension.

“One of our problems has been lack of visibility in international booking systems,” Boardman says. “With the Qantas code, we’re now visible worldwide and people have the ability to book into Kangaroo Island from anywhere.”

Boardman says the Qantas flights and especially the accommodation plans are being accompanied with training programs for staff and an expansion of tourist services, such as car rentals and tours on the 155-kilometre long and 55-kilometre wide island to ensure the tourist industry is prepared for the expected increase in visitors.

“We need to be ready when people get off the plane,” he says.

We need to be ready when people get off the plane. ANDREW BOARDMAN

Although essentially a farming community, the importance of tourism to Kangaroo Island and its population of about 4600 is clear – despite a diverse farming, food and wine industries, tourism accounts for about 60 percent of the island’s GDP.

In the past year, tourism numbers were estimated at 205,000, with 24 percent from overseas.

That represented annual growth of about 4.5 percent, and helped to increase employment. The American River project alone is forecast to add about 280 permanent jobs when completed.

“We need to be ready when people get off the plane.”
Andrew Boardman

Despite the Qantas boost, the bulk of the island’s tourists use the 18-kilometre Sealink ferry crossing between Cape Jervis on the toe of Fleurieu Peninsula and Penneshaw.

The company has two large passenger and vehicle ferries on the route, the 378-passenger Sealion 2000 and the 243-passenger Spirit of Kangaroo Island, as well as being a major player in the island’s tourist industry.

It operates day tours on the island and has three travel units there – Kangaroo Island Adventure Tours, Kangaroo Island Odysseys tours and the Vivonne Bay Lodge.

Chief Executive Jeff Ellison, in welcoming the move, says the Qantas services will “further increase the profile of the island”.
They should benefit economic growth and employment opportunities, he says.

And, with its operations on the island, Sealink is “very well-positioned “ to offer services to Qantas passengers.

Meanwhile, Sealink is involved in confidential talks with the State government over its ferry licence, centred on new vessel construction, fares, a longer lease and infrastructure maintenance.

While welcoming the return of Qantas, local people would like to see another ferry operator to provide competition to Sealink, and reduce fares. Mayor Clements envisages a fast passenger ferry reintroduced between Adelaide’s Glenelg jetty and Kingscote, travelling at 35 knots, carrying at least 300 passengers and making the crossing in one hour and 50 minutes.

Previous alternative ferry services have failed. For now, Kangaroo Island will have to make the best of its revived Qantas services and those additional 20,000 aircraft seats annually. And hope that this time, QantasLink makes it work.