Qantas to boost flights to regional NSW, open Tamworth lounge

Qantas is increasing flights to Tamworth, Armidale, Coffs Harbour and Dubbo from April, with its regional airline QantasLink also rolling out larger aircraft on selected routes.

Also on the cards is a new $400,000 Qantas regional lounge for Tamworth with light refreshments and free wireless Internet.

A Qantas spokesperson says that space has been secured at the airport, with "construction to begin later this year", with the lounge to be modelled on the airline's Qantas Clubs.

Here's a rundown of the changes for each city.

Tamworth: QantasLink is scheduling an additional eight flights per week between Tamworth and Sydney, with "new early morning and afternoon services to and from Tamworth to give customers travelling in peak periods more choice".

Dubbo: the Sydney-Dubbo schedule is boosted from 4 to 5 daily flights on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with 3 to 4 flights on Sunday, "and a Q400 aircraft and Dash 8 Q200 will help service the additional capacity."

Armidale: All Sydney-Armidale flights will switch to larger Dash 8 Q300 aircraft. Qantas says that "schedule changes in the morning and afternoon will also provide a greater spread of flight options throughout the day", although it hasn't detailed what those changes.

Coffs Harbour: the number of flights between Sydney and Coffs Harbour will be increased from 66 to 70 per week, with "a more corporate-focused flight timetable" seeing the addition of an early morning weekday flight "for corporate and government travellers".

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David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.