Brisbane based carrier Strategic Airlines operated its first service from Melbourne Phuket on February 22.
The flight (flight VC240), departed Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport at 10:45am carrying paying passengers plus special guests of Strategic Airlines, including celebrities Tania Zaetta, Kelly Atkinson, Mike Goldman, and Jaime Robbie Reyne.
Strategic founder Michael James said Melbourne was a natural choice for the airline’s expansion plans, given its already strong market position in Asia. “Over the past 12 months we have been growing our services within Queensland and Western Australia and Melbourne is our third Australian hub,” he said. “Our first route is Melbourne direct to Phuket and we have been encouraged by very strong demand.
“We are a modern airline offering old fashioned, ‘all inclusive’ full service. Melbournians are appreciating that and we are looking forward to further expanding our services out of Melbourne in the near future.”
Strategic will operate the Melbourne to Phuket service twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays, offering 274 seats in both business and economy class. Return flights will depart Phuket International Airport every Thursday and Sunday. On Thursday (February 24), Strategic Airlines is also set to begin twice-weekly flights from Brisbane to Phuket, with a planned Brisbane to Denpassar route next on Strategic’s agenda, starting March 19.
