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Regional airline Jetgo Australia will pull all services from Port Macquarie to Melbourne from July 17.
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The announcement came on Friday after noon (May 26) from Jetgo Australia’s managing director airlines Paul Bredereck.
The airline deemed the service offered between the Hastings and Melbourne as no longer viable after just six months.
Passengers who have booked flights from July 17 onwards are being offered a full refund.
“Despite an obvious small core demand for the service, travel patterns have been quite variable and therefore Jetgo has made the commercial decision to redeploy its aircraft onto other routes,” Mr Bredereck said.
“The flights up until July 16 will operate as scheduled. Passengers booked from July 17 will be offered a full refund.
“The entire Jetgo team, wishes to thank those passengers that have supported the service,Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and the Port Macquarie community.
“We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause some customers.”
In April, the company said it would ‘scale back’ services between Port Macquarie and Melbourne, reducing weekly flights to just three. Mr Bredereck said then the decision was only a temporary measure with demand expected to increase as summer approached.
The jet aircraft service launched in November with flights between Port Macquarie and Melbourne’s Essendon airport on four days each week with the long-awaited direct link warmly welcomed by the Hastings’ business sector and broader community.
“We simply can’t compete with the low-cost airlines,” Mr Bredereck said last month.
“That dilutes the demand for the direct service.”
Mr Bredereck said passenger feedback had been mostly positive.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council director Rebecca Olsen said the announcement was disappointing.
"Melbourne is a key destination for our community and an important market for our local business and tourism industries,” Ms Olsen said.
“Our market research indicates that there is sufficient demand for a direct Port Macquarie-Melbourne service, however we recognise that it takes time to achieve long term sustainability when establishing new routes.
“Council remains committed to securing a direct service to Melbourne in the future as part of the range of airline services available from Port Macquarie airport”.
The announcement comes just weeks after Virgin Australia announced it will suspend its flight service between Port Macquarie and Brisbane.
Virgin Australia will cease operating its Brisbane service from July 16.
A spokesperson said the decision was in line with the airline reducing its turboprop ATR fleet.
Alliance Airlines will commence operations on the route from July 17.
Along with the Brisbane to Port Macquarie route, Virgin Australia will be replaced by Alliance Airlines on Brisbane flights to Bundaberg, Gladstone and Moranbah.
Any guests who have booked travel on these routes from July 17, 2017 onwards will be re-accommodated on the Alliance Airlines services.
Since 2016, Alliance Airlines has been operating all flights on the Brisbane – Emerald route and some other regional Queensland flights for Virgin Australia under wet lease arrangements.