Direct flights to Melbourne on Wellcamp Airport's radar
TOOWOOMBA could have direct flights to Melbourne by the end of the year if travellers continue to support the Wellcamp Airport.
Airport manager Phil Gregory said based on passenger numbers there was potential for the Toowoomba to Sydney service to expand in the foreseeable future.
Currently, there are 11 services a week.
"We're pretty confident that we'll have additional flights to Sydney over the coming months," Mr Gregory said.
Mr Gregory said based on the number of Toowoomba people travelling to Brisbane to fly to Melbourne, direct flights from Wellcamp Airport were viable.
However, the onus was on the Toowoomba community.
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"We know exactly how many people are getting in their cars to drive to Brisbane to fly to Melbourne," Mr Gregory said.
"They're paying the tolls, spending big money on car parking and losing five hours of their lives that they'll never get back again.
"If we can get direct flights to Melbourne, we know they'll be popular.
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"But it's up to the Toowoomba community to support us, get on planes at Wellcamp and go to Melbourne via Sydney.
"If the community doesn't, we won't get (direct flights)."
Mr Gregory said the airlines needed to be convinced that travellers wanted to fly direct to Melbourne from the Wellcamp Airport.
"Airlines, by their very nature, are very conservative," he said.
"They're not going to jump in without some hard statistics to back it up.
"The message is that if you want direct flights, it's extremely important you support services out of Wellcamp."
