JETGO Australia insists the decision to shelve plans for one of its services will have no bearing on its capacity to resume Tamworth-to-Brisbane flights.
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The fledgling carrier announced its intention earlier this month to restart flights between Tamworth and the Queensland capital on January 19.
The route was to be launched after the airline had established services between Sydney and the mining hubs of Roma and Gladstone on December 1.
However, this week Jetgo canned the Sydney-Roma service for the foreseeable future before a plane was even flown.
The company blamed a “slowing of market conditions” in Roma’s oil and gas industry for the decision, which it says was made after “careful consideration”.
“Jetgo Australia remains invested in this route and should there be an upturn in the market then we will reconsider reinstating this service,” a statement read.
Jetgo managing director Paul Bredereck, who used to run Tamair, told The Leader the decision would allow it to concentrate on its Tamworth and Gladstone flights.
“It will ensure that we’re not short of flight crew (on the Tamworth-Brisbane service),” he said.
“Inquiries out of Tamworth have been remarkably strong and that’s giving us a very high degree of confidence.
“It’s actually been stronger than even Gladstone, and Gladstone we’ve been quite happy with.”
Tamworth has been without direct flights to Brisbane since Brindabella Airlines collapsed in December.
Jetgo was launched in 2012 as a charter operation to service Queensland’s fly-in, fly-out mining workforce.
But the company, which flies 36-seat Brazilian-manufactured Embraer jets, is now seeking to establish a foothold in the commercial aviation market.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority must conduct a thorough assessment of Jetgo’s ability to fly between Tamworth and Brisbane before adding the route to its licence.
