Cairns banks on airline launch

SYDNEY The launch of the Qantas subsidiary Australian Airlines to service the Asian market into Cairns has potential for business tourism in the form of corporate meetings and incentives. This is the view of Ms Elizabeth Bindon-Bonney, who heads the Cairns and Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, following intensive market research into a number of key markets. Australian Airlines is due to commence operations in October and will provide a budget, one-class service utilising Boeing 767s with Cairns as the initial hub. The airline will sell its first tickets on May 8. The first stage of the new airline's operations will see daily services start between Cairns and Osaka, Fukuoka, Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong and Nagoya between late October and December. Ms Bindon Bonney has identified Hong Kong and Singapore as holding the greatest potential for delivering corporate events to Cairns. "We've had problems with capacity from those cities and this development will help us position Cairns as a cost-effective and attractive destination for business tourism in its various forms," she said. "There are indications that Australian Airlines will also service the Gold Coast in the short term and that will also help the marketing of the region." She said Australian Airlines also provided Tropical North Queensland with the chance to grow the visitor traffic to sub-regions such as Palm Cove and Port Douglas, north of Cairns. Qantas chief executive Mr Geoff Dixon said the airline was on track to commence its second stage of operations, focusing on the outbound market from Australia, in early 2003.