Queensland-owned aviation company Skytrans is vying to take off to new destinations on five regulated routes throughout regional and remote Queensland.
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Skytrans will be competing in the Queensland Government tender for regulated air routes with tenders closing August 9
These include the two northern routes Townsville-Winton-Longreach and Townsville-Hughenden-Richmond-Julia Creek-Mount Isa.
Skytrans Chief Executive Officer Alan Milne said their proposal would better service regional and remote destinations."Air services are the lifeblood of these communities. We'll demonstrate in our tender how Skytrans services will better connect communities and support economic and jobs growth in the regions," Mr Milne said.
Skytrans flies thousands of passengers each year to destinations across Cape York and the Torres Strait. The airline also transports approximately 300,000 kilograms of freight annually and has a charter flight business which services the resource sector.
Skytrans has a Townsville based chairman in Peter Collings who owns Macair and West Wing Airlines, parent owned by Skytrans while NRL legend Johnathan Thurston is another partner in the airline.
Skytrans has more than 100 staff, with a head office in Cairns and regional offices in Townsville, Brisbane and Horn Island.
The other current regulated routes Skytrans is vying for are (western 1) Brisbane-Toowoomba-St George-Cunnamulla-Thargomindah (western 2) Bris-Toowoomba-Charleville-Quilpie-Windorah-Birdsville-Bedourie-Boulia-Mount Isa and (Gulf) Cairns-Normanton-Karumba-Mornington Island-Burketown-Doomadgee-Mount Isa.
All five routes are currently run by Regional Express (REX).
Mr Milne said Skytrans had a proven history of working in regional and remote communities and had a strong reputation for community engagement.
He said Skytrains had played an integral role in fast-tracking the rollout of the COVID vaccine to the Torres Strait by offering free freight for the vaccines and heavily discounted rates for Queensland Health staff and other medical equipment.
Mr Milne said Skytrans had a fleet of five De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 aircraft, which can be configured to hold up to 36 passengers, as well as five Cessna 208B Grand Caravans.
"The Dash 8-100 is the perfect aircraft for these routes and it already makes up the backbone of our fleet," he said.
"If successful, we would be increasing the size of our Dash 8-100 fleet to eight aircraft. More planes also means more Queenslanders working as part of the Skytrans team."
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
