THE skies are clearing at Avalon Airport, with flights to and from the Gold Coast resuming in mid-December.<\/p>\n
Bookings have already opened for Jetstar\u2019s service at Avalon, and the airport\u2019s chief executive officer Justin Giddings expects demand to surge from Boxing Day onwards and into the new year.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Queensland government released details for the restrictions when Queensland\u2019s population was 80 per cent double-vaccinated against COVID-19, which is estimated to occur by December 17 if not earlier.<\/p>\n
Under the new rules, people who have been in declared COVID-19 hot spots in the previous two weeks can travel to Queensland and will not have to quarantine, provided they are fully vaccinated and have a negative COVID-19 test taken within the 72 hours before they arrive in Queensland.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone I know is itching to get away, and with Christmas coming up and a month of school holidays for most kids, I think Queensland\u2019s obviously a popular destination, and it\u2019s perfect timing, so we\u2019re very excited indeed,\u201d Mr Giddings said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have any visibility from the Queensland government other than what we see on TV, so basically we tune in like everyone else to see what\u2019s going on, so we had no pre-warning, but obviously, it\u2019s very welcome news.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Avalon would increase its advertising for Gold Coast flights from this week, but he did not have any figures about the level of bookings so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy prediction would be that before Christmas is generally not as busy as what it is after Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristmas Day is a very quiet day, traditionally, and then it ramps up straight away after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would imagine they\u2019ll be selling very well, especially in that post-Christmas period.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re ready to go, our terminal is sitting there waiting, it\u2019s very straightforward for us, all our COVIDSafe plans are in place, we\u2019ve got all the new equipment there ready to go – which has all been used earlier in the year, but then we shut down again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more difficult for the airlines, because they\u2019re the ones who have to ramp up their staffing.”<\/p>\n
Mr Giddings said international travel for tourists was also likely to return soon to Avalon, but this would depend on a formal announcement by the federal government.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reckon we will, we\u2019re just waiting on AirAsia to advise what they\u2019re planning to do – I\u2019m hoping that by Christmas, we\u2019ll be doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE skies are clearing at Avalon Airport, with flights to and from the Gold Coast resuming in mid-December. Bookings have already opened for Jetstar\u2019s service at Avalon, and the airport\u2019s chief executive officer Justin Giddings expects demand to surge from Boxing Day onwards and into the new year. Last week, the Queensland government released details […]<\/p>\n