Page 40 - Tropic Magazine Issue 12

Industry
Profile

Air up there

SilkAir is celebrating its third anniversary of direct lights
between Cairns and Singapore, a service that has proven to be a
major boost to our economy.

Words Gavin King

Nothing boosts confidence in Cairns Tourism Tropical North Queensland To mark the occasion, Tropic sat What are your passengers saying about the lights?
like an airline launching new Chief Executive O ficer Pip Close down with SilkAir to talk about the We have received positive feedback from our customers and
international lights to our city. Cairns congratulated SilkAir on their third evolution and impact of the flights. travel agents, telling us that they enjoy the direct light to
Airport is the engine room of our anniversary of lying to Cairns. Singapore, from which they could travel seamlessly onward
regional economy, and the city’s “Direct lights to Singapore gives How has the service between Cairns to other destinations in Southeast Asia and Europe on
fortunes take light when the runways visitors from India, Asia, the United and Singapore grown since launching Singapore Airlines and SilkAir. Since we started lying the
are busy and the terminals are bustling. Kingdom and Europe better access to in 2015? Boeing 737-MAX 8 aircra t in January earlier this year, we
Which is why the announcement of Tropical North Queensland,” she said. We launched our inaugural SilkAir have received lots of positive feedback from passengers
direct lights by SilkAir between Cairns “With the increase in SilkAir’s Cairns light to Cairns on 30th May 2015. We regarding the refreshed cabin ambience and improved
and Singapore back in 2015 was such a lights to five days a week we have seen were operating a circular light routing Business Class product.
catalyst for positivity and growth in our very strong growth from India with with Darwin, lying thrice-weekly when
city’s economy. It was a bold move by numbers up 48.4 per cent to 32,000 we first started. Driven by strong What are some of the benefits in terms of international
the airline and their partners at the visitors in 2017. Visitors from our inbound tourism and with the support connections?
Airport, the State Government and traditional markets have also grown of our key agents in Australia, we have Passengers can travel seamlessly in one booking to over 100
TTNQ. Tourism had begun its with Europe up 16.7 per cent. grown the route progressively and destinations from Cairns via Singapore, on SilkAir,
resurgence, but few other local sectors “ is was driven by strong growth from increased our light frequency to five Singapore Airlines and our low-cost arm Scoot. Transit time
were doing well at the time. e SilkAir France which increased by 40 per cent times weekly, lying direct to can be as short as under an hour in Singapore before
announcement was the shot in the arm to 23,000 visitors, Scandinavia up 35.8 Singapore. In terms of the profile of our catching the onward light, which means that people can
our economy needed, delivering a per cent to 25,000, Germany up 3.5 per inbound passengers, we are seeing travel from Cairns to Phuket in just 9 hours and to Europe
renewed sense of confidence. cent to 55,000 and Italy up 75 per cent passengers from Singapore, United from 21 hours. Our passengers can also redeem a Changi
Fast forward to today, and SilkAir is to 14,000. e United Kingdom market Kingdom, Germany and India travelling Transit Reward voucher valued at SGD20 for shopping and
celebrating its third year of direct also grew with a 0.8 per cent increase to on us to visit Cairns and Far North dining in Singapore Changi Airport, if their travel itinerary is
lights between Singapore and Cairns. 111,000.” Queensland. I believe that we have eligible for it.
Given the cut-throat nature of made a positive contribution to the
international aviation, this is a local tourism industry.
significant milestone.

40 • tropicnow.com.au