Geraldton to Broome flights pitched to Qantas

Cheaper flights and a connection with Broome could be a possibility for Geraldton under a proposal put to Qantas. The proposal — floated by a group including former Tourism Geraldton chairman Scott Cogar — recommends that Qantas use a larger aircraft, the Airbus A320, to service Geraldton twice a week and continue to Broome in what is known as a milk run. Under the proposal, the 180-seater aircraft would travel from Perth to Geraldton and then continue to Broome northbound once a week, and southbound several days later. Mr Cogar said he had been actively working with the City of Greater Geraldton, the Mid West Development Commission and the Mid West Chamber of Commerce and Industry to create the opportunity for multi-stop holidays along the WA coastline. He said the group had contacted Qantas and would meet with the airline soon to discuss the proposal. “Geraldton is the largest city north of Perth and a major tourism hub, but we are isolated from other regional cities,” he said. “I believe current flights will constrain the future growth of Geraldton. “This proposed route would connect Geraldton with a much bigger reach and appeal.” Last June, Geraldton completed a $24 million upgrade to the airport to renew and expand the airstrip and allow larger planes to land, but airlines have continued to use Fokker 100 aircraft. City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said the Fokker 100s were often at capacity, which pushed remaining seats to an inaccessible fare of about $500. “This issue often gets discussed in the city and we would offer for a larger craft like the A320 to land for the same fee as smaller craft,” he said. “We would absolutely support connecting our city to the north.” The West Australian’s aviation editor, Geoffrey Thomas, said based on current data, there was a need for larger craft to operate on the Perth to Geraldton route. Thomas said a larger plane such as the A320 or 737 would be well suited for the route and, because of the larger capacity, the price of the ticket would be expected to decline. “The milk run flights is something that is missing in Western Australia; flying Geraldton to Broome would be an easy sell for local and international tourists,” he said. A Qantas spokesman said he was unable to comment on the proposal but said the airline had no plans to fly larger aircraft on the route at present because there were plenty of spare seats on existing services. “We added extra flights to Geraldton in August last year after Virgin pulled out,” the spokesman said.