FlyPelican, Australia's newest airline, takes to the skies next week

New Aussie regional airline FlyPelican will take its first passenger flight next week with the launch of non-stop services between Newcastle and Canberra on June 1.

The airline will also kick off Sydney-Mudgee flights from June 11, along with Newcastle-Sydney services from the same date to rival incumbent regional carrier Rex.

“The necessary approvals to start scheduled flights for the airline had been long awaited,” said FlyPelican CEO Paul Graham, adding that he’s “thrilled that the first flight was now less than one week away.”

On all three routes, business travellers can choose from two daily return flights on weekdays and one return flight on Sundays, all served by British Aerospace Jetstream 32 aircraft with 19 seats in an all-economy layout.

One-way fares in economy start at $89 between Sydney and Newcastle, $99 between Sydney and Mudgee and $149 between Canberra and Newcastle, including of 15kg of checked baggage.

Mudgee, a town in New South Wales around five hours’ drive from Sydney, was left without any regular air services in December 2013 following the collapse of Qantas partner Brindabella Airlines, which merged with Aeropelican just months prior.

Meanwhile Virgin Australia launched its latest regional route yesterday – taking on QantasLink’s monopoly on Sydney-Tamworth flights.

Read: Virgin Australia commences Tamworth flights

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.