QantasLink will bring airline competition to the Adelaide-Whyalla route from April 2015.
The regional carrier will fly 13 times a week between the South Australian capital and Whyalla, a coastal city located north west of Adelaide, using 50-seat Q300 aircraft.
QantasLink said on Thursday the new service represented about 1,300 seats a week to Whyalla – the airline’s third South Australian destination alongside Adelaide and Port Lincoln – and would provide an enormous boost to the local economy.
“We have great confidence in the Whyalla market,” QantasLink chief executive John Gissing said in a statement.
Regional Express was currently the only operator flying between Adelaide and Whyalla with 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft.
Whyalla City Council mayor Jim Pollock said the council had recently invested $3 million to upgrade the airport and the new QantasLink flights would promte business and tourism opportunities in the local region.
The first QantasLink flight was scheduled for April 13 2015.
