Airnorth opens up the Top End and beyond for Townsville

Airnorth, Northern Australia’s premier airline, announced today it will commence non-stop Jet services between Townsville and Darwin from 17 February, 2012.

Operating every Monday and Friday, this new route opens up the Top End and beyond for residents of Townsville and its surrounding regions.

Airnorth CEO, Simone Saunders commented, “This new route further expands Airnorth’s Queensland services in addition to our existing, twice weekly flights to the Gold Coast from Darwin via Mt Isa, operating since 2009.”

Offering more options for business travellers, Airnorth’s new schedule will provide easy and convenient flight connections to Darwin from other North Queensland business centres including Mackay, Rockhampton and Gladstone.

“With population and workforce demand increasing across this area of North Queensland, we are also providing timely and direct services for the first time for key market segments including Australian Defence Force, Marine, Construction, Mining and Resources, Education personnel and of course tourism,” Ms Saunders said.

“We are opening up more holiday options for North Queenslanders to visit Kakadu and Arnhem Land in the NT, the Kimberley and Pilbara regions in the west and Timor-Leste, our nearest neighbour in the north,” Ms Saunders said.

“Airnorth is very pleased to welcome Qantas as a code share partner on these services and this will provide greater connectivity and booking flexibility for all our passengers,” Ms Saunders said.

Additionally this new schedule will provide convenient, one-stop flight connections from Townsville via Darwin to other Asian destinations including Bali, Singapore, Manila and Ho Chi Min City with shorter journey times than currently available.

Airnorth passengers will also be able to earn and redeem Qantas frequent flyer points on their Darwin flights.

Internet fares are on sale now at www.airnorth.com.au and start from $230* per person one-way, Townsville to Darwin. Bookings can be made by contacting Airnorth’s friendly reservations team on 1800 627 474,
through your local travel agent or with Qantas who will code share on Airnorth’s new service.

Schedule [all in local times]

Townsville 16 Feb 2012

* Fare quoted is for online bookings only, subject to availability at time of booking, for one‐way travel per person and includes all taxes. Credit card surcharges apply. Fares are correct as at 15/11/11 and are subject to change.

ends.

For more information contact:
Tammy Baczynski
Marketing & Communications Manager
Ph: +61 8 8920 4058
tammy.baczynski@airnorth.com.au

Company background

Headquartered in Darwin, Airnorth is now the major airline based in Northern Australia and carries in excess of 250,000 passengers annually.

Airnorth is a full service carrier accommodating the needs of both business and leisure travellers, operating state- of-art Embraer regional jets thought its interstate network and providing passengers with complimentary catering and free baggage allowance.

The airline operates over 185 departures weekly, serving 16 destinations in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland and Timor-Leste including:

All Airnorth passengers can earn and redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points on eligible fares on all Airnorth services.

Airnorth, through its partnership with Qantas Airways, offer seamless connectivity including through check in and interline baggage facilities, with Qantas code sharing on the majority of Airnorth’s Jet services.

In addition to scheduled departures, Airnorth operates contract and ad-hoc charter services for a wide variety of companies undertaking mining, defence and government activity.

Airnorth directly employs more than 200 staff in Darwin and provides indirect employment through the contracting of ground service operations across its destinations.

Airnorth was recently awarded as the 2011 NT Exporter of the Year as well as receiving the Large Services Award at the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister’s Export and Industry Awards that recognise the important

contribution that NT businesses make to the local economy through job creation and increased prosperity in the community. As the NT winner Airnorth will now be entered into the Prime Minister’s Exporter of the Year Awards in Brisbane in December.