Where do you see Qantas Link having new routes to in the future?

Where do you see Qantas Link having new routes to in the future?

I believe the following would be worth consideration:

Bairnsdale (or Sale) from Sydney or Melbourne

Mount Gambier from Adelaide or Melbourne

Mildura from Adelaide

Thoughts?

Ah, let us settle back into our armchairs.

I think Sydney to Bairnsdale might have just enough traction to warrant a Dash 8 given it's far enough east of Melbourne to make flying into Tullamarine difficult (given the V/Line train takes four hours and driving takes three and a half) and has enough local catchment (the cities of Moe, Morwell, Traralgon, Sale and Bairnsdale together have a population of around 80,000, never mind the rest of the Gippsland) to warrant looking at.

Another possibility is reviving Melbourne to Wollongong.

Bairnsdale having no scheduled service would be a barrier to QantasLink starting service. It would require startup costs to sort out ground handling and terminal facilities.

Wollongong was tried before, but there is significant bleeding of traffic to SYD. From the centre of Wollongong, SYD is a ~70 minute drive as there is a freeway most of the way, WOL is 25 minutes.

PPP is the largest airport in Australia currently unserved by QF / QFLink but JQ handles it. Possibly Sydney to Griffith?

True, but the new Toowoomba (WTB) airport didn't have existing service either, and QantasLink was more than happy to launch service there.

I'd also point out that the region around Toowoomba (the Darling Downs) has a similar population to the region around Bairnsdale (the Gippsland) - 240K to 250K.

IIRC the private operators of WTB incentivised QFLink to begin service. If another community stumps up the cash, QFLink will probably come. So if Bairnsdale wants service they can probably buy it.

Also, Griffith would be in competition with Rex so there's that angle to look at, although Wagga Wagga, Dubbo and Armidale are all in competition with Rex already; Albury is in competition with both Rex and Virgin Australia.

I wonder how many Rex passengers self-connect to other airlines at SYD? QFLink starting service could scoop up these passengers both for SYD-GFF and the beyond SYD flights.

Whilst not a "new" route for Qantaslink, I wouldn't be surprised if in the near future they upgrade one of their four daily MEL-LST Q400 services to a Boeing 717. I can see more 717's coming over east from Western Australia as more Network Fokker 100's take over WA routes. Bet I guess it's a case of wait and see...

I think they could take over the ADL Alice Springs run

SYD to Griffith would be good

ADL - Toowoomba

DWN to Bali or Singapore or DILI or KL