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Queensland-based regional carrier East Air says it is not walking away from regular Hamilton Island services despite switching its Cairns route to charter flights.
The airline, which began operating between Cairns and the holiday destination in November – reviving a former QantasLink route – now says on its website that the twice-weekly flights are being replaced by “personalised services”.
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“After watching the patterns of the bookings and speaking with many of our customers, we have come to realise that the majority of people on this route travel in groups, and value the freedom to plan this part of their journey around their broader holiday plans,” the site reads.
“As a result, in place of the twice-weekly flights, we have changed our service to now offering personalised flights for groups of six or more.
“For groups you can now fly directly between Cairns and Hamilton Island (and watch this space for new destinations) on any day and at any time that works best for you.”
However, speaking exclusively to Australian Aviation, chief executive Alan Milne said the airline is not dropping RPT flights on Cairns–Hamilton Island altogether, but rather moving them to a seasonal service.
“It was based on passenger demand, as any of these sectors always are – the demand wasn’t as high as we were hoping, especially over that Christmas period. We did have some strategies in place to improve that, but we weren’t seeing much change,” he said.
“It’s been reported that we’ve pulled out of Hamilton Island. That’s not correct. Essentially, what we’re doing is transitioning to a seasonal operation, but still operating charter services as required during the low season. That’s a change in strategic direction based purely on passenger demand.
“We totally intend to go back to regular services in the high season. We’re talking with both Cairns Airport and Hamilton Island at the moment about what that might look like, but that is the plan. We don’t intend to abandon the route altogether at all.”
According to Milne, the carrier intends to move forward with its goal of acquiring Dash 8 aircraft – possibly from those offloaded by QantasLink in 2025 – and growing into other regional Queensland passenger routes, saying the Dash 8 plans are “all on track”.
“Logistically, the AOC variation application will be with CASA in the next week, potentially, or two, so we’ve fully committed to that process and going down that path.”
“I think there’s a real opportunity there with Rex finding their feet again. In my view, Skytrans or SmartLynx, their prime objective is not RPT in Queensland. So, I do think there’s an opportunity there, and we want to be positioned to take advantage of that.”
Milne, ex-CEO of Skytrans (now SmartLynx Australia), bought East Air – previously purely a charter airline – from its previous owners last year with the intent to become “a dominant player in the regional market” in Queensland.
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