Elsie Adamo
QANTAS Airways has expanded services into Mount Gambier Airport, despite the airline cancelling some flights recently.
Qantas confirmed that from April flights from Mount Gambier to Adelaide have increased from five to seven services each week, as well as three return flights from Mount Gambier to Melbourne.
While visiting Mount Gambier airport, The Border Watch heard multiple reports of cancelled Qantas flights from the airport, around a month ahead of flights.
Chris Coffey arrived in Mount Gambier last week from Western Australia to visit her son, and regularly makes the trip to see her family.
“I am happy that they have flights, but unfortunately my [return] flight that has been booked back [to Adelaide] has been cancelled by Qantas,” Ms Coffey said.
“They changed it to the flight the day before, but I cannot get here…my connecting flight to Perth would still be the same day so I would have to spend the night in Adelaide.”
Qantas declined to comment on flight cancellations.
Until March last year, Regional Express (REX) was the only commercial airline at Mount Gambier airport.
The airline operates 14 weekly flights between Mount Gambier and Melbourne, and 17 return flights to Adelaide.
A REX spokesperson confirmed that the airline was still rebuilding after the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw 85,000 total passengers in 2019 drop to 13,000 in the first 12 months of the pandemic.
Frequent users of the airport are hopeful the added competition will have an impact on pricing.
“Hopefully it will bring prices down a bit,” Mount Gambier resident John Simpson said.
“I fly most months, and it is more expensive here than many other airports.”
