FlyPelican is preparing to commence direct flights between Taree and Sydney from Monday 29 January 2018.
The partnership with Pelican Airlines, operating as FlyPelican, comes off the back of Regional Express (REX) announcing last week its intention to cease operating out of Taree from Saturday 27 January 2018.
Paul De Szell, MidCoast Council’s Director, Community Spaces and Services, believes the service offered by FlyPelican will be a win for the local community.
“Based on the needs of both business and personal travelers, as well as local medical facilities, it was our objective to resume direct flights to and from Sydney, removing the need to land in Newcastle and reducing overall travel time”, he said.
“The partnership with FlyPelican provides us with this opportunity, where it was deemed unprofitable to do so by our former air service provider”.
FlyPelican is a Newcastle-based independent regional airline that operates a fleet of 19 seat pressurized British Aerospace Jetstream 32 aircraft. Regular scheduled passenger services currently connect Newcastle and Canberra, Newcastle and Ballina (Byron Bay), Newcastle and Dubbo, Canberra and Dubbo, Sydney and Mudgee, and Newcastle and Sydney.
“FlyPelican will commence double daily return flights between Taree and Sydney from Monday 29 January 2018. We will be pulling out all the stops to mount an operation at the end of January to provide the community with a seamless option to fly to and from Taree with optimum flight times in the morning and evening to support both the business and the leisure markets”, explained Paul Graham, FlyPelican’s CEO.
“The Jetstream 32 aircraft seats 19 passengers in comfort and style, with a direct flight time of just one hour between Taree and Sydney, which in comparison to a four-hour long drive is just so convenient. There is also potential and capacity to increase the frequency of flights to bring passenger numbers back to where they were”, he added.