Four charter flights from Japan have been confirmed into Cairns to boost seating capacity during September and October.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland Chief Executive Officer Rob Giason said JTB had put together a five-day package into Cairns from Tokyo and was hosting three school excursions from Fukuoka using a chartered All Nippon Airways Boeing 744-400 jumbo jet with a seating capacity of 323.
“This translates into a welcome additional 1292 seats into Cairns from Japan during our shoulder season,†he said.
“JTB’s World Tokyo Package charter has been timed to coincide with Silver Week from September 19-23 when three Japanese public holidays follow a weekend this year.
“The Kyushu School Excursion flights are a sign of confidence in Cairns for this valuable market after charter school excursions to Hawaii were cancelled following the Swine Flu scare.â€
The announcement of the flights follows Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s Japan Mission 2009 earlier this month where TTNQ representatives had constructive discussions on charter business for Cairns with All Nippon Airways and JTB.
The mission took in six cities where the 10 delegates conducted workshops, seminars, group sales calls and evening functions and met more than 350 agents (wholesale planner, group sales representatives, frontline travel agents) to keep and raise the destination image of Cairns through a “Team Cairns†approach.
