December 1, 2009Jetstar will resume direct flights between Osaka and Cairns from next April after axing the service back in 2008, in a bid to ensure the future of the regions key international market.
Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor says the airline will also grow its domestic operations for Cairns by doubling its Melbourne-Cairns services from single to twice daily starting April 1, 2010.
"The Japan market remains Tropical North Queensland's largest international market with 126,000 Japanese visitors spending 700,000 nights in the region in the year ended June 2009," Lawlor says.
"Japanese visitors stay an average of 5.6 nights in Tropical North Queensland and overall spend $1885 each on their Queensland holiday," he says.
Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Steve Wettenhall explains the Japanese market into Tropical North Queensland has been affected by a range of issues in recent years including an unfavourable exchange rate, global economic conditions, terrorism and global pandemics.
These and other commercial factors contributed to the Qantas Group's decision to withdraw direct flights from Osaka into Cairns at the end of 2008.
"Since then, Tourism Queensland and the State Government, along with Cairns International Airport and Tourism Tropical North Queensland, have been working with the Qantas Group to reinstate the flights," Wettenhall says.
"I am happy to say that thanks to the cooperative efforts of all of these parties, these negotiations have been successful and as of April 2010, Jetstar's direct flights from western Japan to Tropical North Queensland will resume," he says.