Gold Coast ready for budget airline boom
GOLD COAST – Australia’s Gold Coast airport expects passengers to switch from nearby Brisbane to take advantage of new low cost airlines flying into Queensland’s capital of fun.
Tiger Airways and AirAsia X will launch Gold Coast services next month.
Malaysia’s Air Asia X, in which Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has a 20 percent stake, will start four direct services a week between Kuala Lumpur and the Gold Coast from November 3.
Singapore’s Tiger Airways will start daily Melbourne to Gold Coast services on November 23.
Even ahead of the new services, the Gold Coast airport has posted a surge in numbers.
The airport recorded a 6.8 percent increase in traffic during the two-month period of August-September with passenger numbers totaling 664,969.
Gold Coast Airport chief operating officer Paul Donovan said that by the end of November, the airport would offer flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle and Canberra and five international destinations: Kuala Lumpur, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Mole Digger checked out the Internet fares flying between Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne via the Gold Coast using a combination of Air Asia X and Tiger Airways. Advertised fares for KL-Gold Coast on December 2 and returning December 12 on AirAsia X were 1373 Malaysian ringgit. Tiger’s fare Gold Coast-Melbourne is advertised at A$139.95 each way.
The return fare KL-Melbourne fare using this combination would be approximately A$738 or MYR 2,214. However, because of the schedules of each airline, a passenger would need to overnight each way on the Gold Coast.
Ian Jarrett
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