Riverina MP and federal Transport Minister Michael McCormack has said Wagga will have to wait and see whether the city will be part of any extension to a half-price tourist flight scheme.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The federal government this week launched discount plane tickets as part of its $1.2 billion Tourism Aviation Network Support program, with 100,000 passengers signing up in the first few hours.
The program will fund 800,000 discount flights between 13 regions but it currently does not include Wagga.
"We will look at [including Wagga], We have said all along that we will look at it, we will review it and we will see what we can do," Mr McCormack said.
"What we wanted to do was to make sure that those destinations which normally have international tourists all over the place, such as North Queensland, such as Darwin, such as Kangaroo Island.
"Wagga isn't a haven for international tourists as such but I said all along we would look at it; it was mainly to support those areas which had had no tourism and had been totally smashed."
In other news
Qantas this week launched direct flights between Wagga and Melbourne, a route previously serviced only by the Regional Express (REX) airline, in response to "growing demand".
The discount tickets will be available for purchase from this week until July 31 for designated regions and on eligible air routes, for travel up to and including September 30.
Mr McCormack said the Tourism Aviation Network Support program "would be reviewed every month of the way through".
"It's April to July at the moment and we will look at it at the end of April, we will look at it at the end of May and we'll look at it at the end of June," he said.
"Come July 31, if we need to continue that support then I will go back to cabinet and I'll say 'well, the aviation and tourism sector needs continued support' and we'll see what we can do".
Mr McCormack said Wagga had been "well supported" during the coronavirus pandemic via domestic aviation industry programs.
"REX is one of the only airlines in the entire world to enlarge their services and their fleet during the global pandemic and that has been significantly helped by the support that the federal government has given to REX," Mr McCormack said.
Mr McCormack was questioned on live TV earlier this month when the program was first announced, with Insiders host David Speers claiming some Nationals MPs were "livid" that more regional destinations were not included.
"Well, indeed, people from Wagga often jump in a car and drive to a location. People in Wagga can access this," Mr McCormack said at the time.
Labor opposition leader Anthony Albanese has previously criticised the Tourism Aviation Network Support program as too narrow, claiming that airlines would benefit the most while there was a lack of support for hotel and tourism operators.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters