Hamilton Island will maintain a second airline service to Brisbane with QantasLink to operate the route four times a week from the end of November.
Running between Friday and Monday, the flights start on November 28 and will be operated by Q400 aircraft with 74 seats, QantasLink said in a statement on Monday.
QantasLink’s new Brisbane-Hamilton Island service will go some way to replacing Qantas low-cost unit Jetstar’s Airbus A320 flights on the route that ends in October. Also, the new service comes on top of Qantas mainline resuming direct flights between Sydney and Hamilton in July, the Flying Kangaroo’s first direct flights to the Queensland resort island in almost a decade.
“Having celebrated the return of Qantas to the island in July, we are delighted to welcome the additional QantasLink Brisbane – Hamilton Island service to compliment the current Qantas Sydney-Hamilton Island route,” Hamilton Island chief executive Glenn Bourke said in a statement.
“Given the growth and high occupancy levels we’ve experienced on Hamilton Island over the last two years, we’re confident we will be able to provide the load factor to ensure the route is successful and commercially viable for the Qantas Group.”
Virgin Australia currently flies daily between Brisbane and Great Barrier Reef Airport with Boeing 737 aircraft.
In addition to Brisbane, Hamilton Island also has direct service to Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns and nearby Hayman Island.
