Tigerair Australia has released flight times for its new Canberra-Melbourne service due to take off in early December, offering a split schedule featuring mid-morning or evening flights depending on the day of the week.
The low-cost carrier is returning to Canberra for the first time since 2011 with a daily service from Melbourne that begins on December 8 with 180-seat Airbus A320s.
On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays TT663 was scheduled to take off from Melbourne at 1030 for an 1135 arrival in Canberra, while the reciprocal TT666 would depart at 1205 and land back in the Victorian capital 70 minutes later.
However’s Tigerair’s services on Thursday, Friday and Sundays have a late afternoon departure from Melbourne, with TT667 pushing back at Tullamarine at 1735 for a 1840 arrival in Canberra. After a 30-minute turnaround, TT668 heads back to Melbourne at 1910 and is scheduled to touch down at 2020.
The schedules, released on Thursday, were likely to prove convenient for those looking to spend a weekend in Canberra or Melbourne, given the late afternoon or evening flights on Fridays and Sundays.
It will be interesting whether schedules change for the winter months, when the football codes are in full swing, to make it possible for people to travel from Canberra to Melbourne in time for a Saturday afternoon AFL game.
Tigerair said on Thursday the schedule would “suit the airline’s core market of budget and leisure travellers”.
Currently, Qantas and Tigerair’s owner Virgin Australia fly between Melbourne and Canberra.
It was understood Tigerair’s entry on the route would not result in any changes to Virgin’s Melbourne-Canberra schedule.
