SOUTHERN Downs residents will have access to 11 return flights to Sydney a week when the Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport (BWWA) opens later this year, after Wagners secured a deal with the Flying Kangaroo.
Announced last Wednesday, the landmark agreement will provide a Toowoomba-centric schedule of double daily services Monday to Friday and daily services on the weekend from 17 November.
The highly-anticipated news has been warmly received by Southern Downs locals who are keen to access the nearby airport rather than contending with Brisbane tolls and hefty parking fees.
It is not yet known how much QantasLink, who are in the midst of offering discount celebratory fares, will charge, but Wagners general manager Phil Gregory told the Free Times in June passengers should expect to pay about a 25 per cent premium on Brisbane fares.
Wagners chairman John Wagner described the deal as a “a momentous occasion for Australian aviation, our Toowoomba region and the airport”.
“I speak on behalf of Wagners’ four shareholders, Joe, Denis, Neill and myself when I say that we always knew a major airline would see the potential of serving South West Queensland,” he said in a statement.
Premier Campbell Newman, who was on hand at the airport when the announcement was made, said the agreement guaranteed billions of dollars worth of investment and secured hundreds of local jobs for south-west Queensland.
“This kind of investment and commitment from Wagners and Qantas really shows the prosperity of the Darling Downs and south west Queensland,” he said.
The public will be offered a preview of the facilities later this month when the gates are thrown open in a community open day on Sunday, 28 September from 9.30am to 4pm.
BWWA is Australia’s first privately-funded public airport and the first public airport to be built in 50 years.
The 300-hectare airport, featuring a 2.87-kilometre runway capable of landing a Boeing 747 aircraft, is the anchor tenant of the 800-hectare Wellcamp Business Park.
