Virgin cancels direct flights between Adelaide and Darwin, reducing travel options

ABC NEWS (Australia)

People travelling between Adelaide and Darwin will have their flight options reduced as Virgin cancels its direct services. Reporter Rachael Merritt has more from Adelaide Airport.

Transcript

00:00This move will no doubt come as a surprise to many South Australians who had been planning

00:08a getaway to the Top End during those really cold winter months.

00:13Virgin Australia will be indefinitely cutting its seasonal route between Darwin and Adelaide

00:19during the peak tourism season for the Northern Territory.

00:24The service was set to return from June 22 and offer three weekly return flights between

00:34those two cities.

00:36The airline says the move to axe the service was due to forecast low demand.

00:42They said they understand it's disappointing to many passengers but the cut will actually

00:48allow them to schedule more direct flights between Darwin and other major cities including

00:54Melbourne and Brisbane.

00:56The Northern Territory's Chief Minister Leah Finocchiaro has weighed in on this move.

01:02She's called the decision to axe the flight awful and unbelievable and said that the airlines

01:12need to be held to account for what they're doing to regional Australia.

01:17Meanwhile the Executive General Manager of Corporate at Adelaide Airport says they'll

01:23keep talking to Virgin to see if they can't bring back this seasonal flight for future

01:28years but in the meantime they are telling passengers that there are a number of alternate

01:35routes available that Qantas and Jetstar still offer direct flights between those two cities.

Category

Transcript

Recommended