Norfolk Air’s unbeatable $1 air fare sells out within hours
An opening day rush on Norfolk Air’s $1 fare on the Sydney-Melbourne route as announced on TravelMole last week, saw the full allocation sell out by early in the afternoon of the same day!
“Our webpage operator has never seen anything like it,” said Norfolk Air General Manager Ewan Wilson.
“Stories mentioning the superfare came out in TravelMole and two daily newspapers with the full allocation through to June next year sold by 1.35pm the same day.”
We’re now looking at extending the offer to unsold seats and announcing availability as the seats come up on our website at www.norfolkair.com.”
Mr Wilson said he came up with the idea of a $1 including all taxes for Australia’s busiest trunk route on the busiest day of the week – Fridays – to promote the airline’s new Melbourne-Norfolk Island service from October 19.
“The opportunity came about because the 737 jet we’re using on the route is able to fly direct to the island from Melbourne but must stop to refuel in Sydney on the return leg, allowing 18 seats that must be kept open on the international flight to be available to carry passengers on the final sector from Sydney to Melbourne.
“Our approach was, let’s make these seats available at a virtually unbeatable price as a promotional offer for the island and the airline in the hope that people who use them might consider putting the savings towards a Norfolk Island holiday next time they need a break.”
Mr Wilson said June had been set as the cut-off date for the $1 offer because plans were proceeding to bringing a longer-range aircraft onto the route next year to enable non-stop services in both directions.
“The Norfolk Island Government has set a target of 40,000 visitor arrivals a year and sees the Melbourne link as being critical in helping to achieve that goal by opening up key markets in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania,” he added.
Norfolk Air also operates direct flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle.
To operate each Friday, the new Melbourne flights will feature a two-class service offering an economy cabin and eight Bounty Class (business) seats.
Flights will leave Melbourne International Airport at 12.50pm every Friday and arrive on the island at 5.50pm local time. Return flights will leave at 8am on Fridays and arrive in Melbourne at 11.50am after a brief Sydney stopover at Sydney’s international terminal.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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