Alliance Airlines to Open Operations Base in Cairns, Australia

In May 2010, Alliance Airlines is to open a full operations base in Cairns, Australia, doubling its current flights and creating a new strategic operating hub for services throughout Northern Australia and to key regional international destinations.

From 3 May 2010, Brisbane-based Alliance will increase its Cairns flights from the current five departures per week to 10. The company will also base two Fokker 100 jets at Cairns Airport, supported by an engineering and spares facility, administrative office and crew base. Initially, up to 20 employees, including 14 flight crew and three engineers, will be located at the new Cairns base.

Alliance Airlines is a specialist operator of contract air services, specialising in fly in – fly out operations for the resources sector. The company currently operates a fleet of 11 Fokker 100 jets and six Fokker 50 turboprop aircraft from bases in Brisbane, Townsville, Adelaide and Perth.

“The resources industry is buoyant and growing in Queensland and in neighbouring markets including the Northern Territory and Papua New Guinea,” said the airline’s Managing Director, Mr Scott McMillan. “We are a national company and we are a significant part of the resources industry infrastructure in Australia, and Cairns is the perfect base for our next phase of growth, providing modern facilities for both domestic and regional international flight operations ... In return, we can deliver to Cairns a growing business, new aviation jobs and exciting future opportunities as we seek to expand our flying operations within Australia and potentially beyond to regional international destinations.”

The airline’s 100-seat Fokker 100 aircraft have a flying range of up to 2,500 kilometres, or approximately 3.5 hours, enabling them to fly nonstop from Cairns to destinations as far away as Sydney, Adelaide, Broome and Honiara.

Other Alliance FIFO customers in North Queensland include BHP Billiton Cannington, Gemco and MMG. Alliance has also been active in supporting the rapidly growing cruise market in Melanesia that utilises Cairns as a passenger hub.

Cairns Airport Pty Ltd Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Gregg, welcomed the announcement of an Alliance base at Cairns Airport.

“This decision by an operator of the calibre of Alliance highlights the strength of Cairns as a regional hub, ideally located to support the booming resources sector in northern Australia and Papua New Guinea,” Mr Gregg said. “This is great news for the local economy and will bring with it excellent job and business development opportunities. Cairns Airport looks forward to working closely with Alliance as a key aviation partner.”

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