Local growth in domestic leisure and corporate air travel and the arrival of Rex Airlines as a competitor has triggered the opening of a new and direct Canberra-Darwin route for QantasLink, five days a week.
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The service will begin on June 21 and initially operate for the peak holiday season through to October, with the option to extend should the direct route prove popular
It's a route which Rex, which recently launched a $99 one-way fare from Sydney to Canberra using its Saab 340 turboprop aircraft, is unable to match - at least for now.
The Darwin flights will be under the banner of Alliance Airlines, an air charter operator which recently signed a three-year deal to service particular Qantas routes. The non-stop flight takes four hours and 35 minutes.
Alliance use the Brazilian-built Embraer E190 jets with 10 seats in business and 84 in economy, which provides for almost 1000 seats on the route each week.
The Embraer has a 4500km flying range, which is more than QantasLink's Boeing 717s. Qantas has a 19.9 per cent share of Alliance.
