00:02When this Alice Springs business owner first heard flights to and from Melbourne were axed, shock quickly turned to anger.
00:10Cancelling it is just going to be detrimental to this town for people coming in but also going out as
00:16well.
00:16The Chamber of Commerce agrees.
00:19This is a disastrous blow on the back of, you know, we've already got our visitor economy facing 30 to
00:2540 per cent decline this year thanks to the fuel crisis.
00:28It's a sentiment echoed on the streets.
00:31It's just another hiccup in living in Alice Springs.
00:34People in the middle of Australia need to go places too.
00:37Qantas says it cut the route because of rising costs and a lack of demand.
00:41The Territory Government had been cooking up plans to attract more flights, not see them axed.
00:47I think it's a really short-sighted decision and we really need to ensure that we're supporting our regional areas.
00:52I think that this is wrong from Qantas and there should have been more discussion and more consultation with the
01:00community.
01:00It's not good enough.
01:01Designate that aviation into Alice Springs is an essential service that needs to be underwritten, it needs to be supported.
01:07Locals say there was a drop in tourism here in Alice Springs when Qantas started direct flights to Uluru.
01:13There are now calls for Qantas to divert some of those flights back to the town.
01:18There is no reason why people would not fly through Alice Springs to access one of the seven natural wonders
01:24of the world in Ayers Rock, Uluru.
01:25There are also hopes a new rare earths mine will turn things around.
01:30That gives me hope and that almost definitely will buoy our economy.
01:36It will bring more people to town.
01:37But the message from some is simple.
01:40You make enough money, keep the flights going.
01:42Please reconsider.
01:44Ideas that locals hope might fly.
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