TRAVELLING between Sydney and Ballina will become even easier from December, with five extra Jetstar flights a week, adding an extra 92,000 seats to the route every year.Virgin Blue added two extra flights a week earlier this month, and will introduce another flight starting in September.
Between the two airlines, there will be 140,000 extra seats on the Ballina-Sydney route every year.Airport manager Neil Weatherson said it was great news, but said people now needed to make use of the new services.The last thing we need is for people to not use it, because then we will lose it, he said.Next month we will do some co-operative marketing with the airlines just to encourage people a bit more.It all ties in with what we’re doing in regards to the changes to the departure lounge, the screening point and the overall refreshing of the terminal buildingIn a few months’ time people will really notice the changes.However, he admitted the airport still needed a Melbourne service.The route was scrapped by Jetstar in August last year, but Mr Weatherson says he won’t give up on getting it back.It’s something that we are still working on, he said.We’re working on Melbourne and on Newcastle.The new Jetstar flights will start on December 2.The airline’s head of corporate relations, Simon Westaway, said the Ballina-Sydney route had consistently performed ‘ahead of expectations’, and that extra seats were ‘clearly warranted’.He also said the new flights would revert the airline to its strongest market position in the Sydney to Ballina-Byron market.The additional flights will be a new Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday morning service, he said.We believe the introduction of these flights are well-timed ahead of the summer peak season, and then to provide a consistent twice daily return service with convenient morning and afternoon departure times from both Sydney and Ballina Byron Airport.Cr Alan Brown, chairman of Ballina Shire Council’s airport committee, said it was ‘great news’ that Jetstar had committed to extra flights.Neil is doing a great job as the airport manager and this announcement is a testament to that, he said.Mr Weatherson told the council in May that his vision was to increase passenger numbers at the Ballina Airport to 600,000 a year by the end of 2015.