Budget carrier Tigerair plans to resume flying from Melbourne to Canberra after a five-year hiatus.
Chief executive Rob Sharp said the time is right to start flying the route again as it has since turned round the business and massively improved on-time performance.
"We’ve been turning the business around, Virgin Australia acquired the business and we rebranded the business three years ago," he said.
"We have the lowest cancellation rates now, over the last 18 months, of all the domestic carriers, including the main carriers. What we’ve been doing is building the network and looking at where there’s demand for our low-cost product — and we believe there’s demand here in Canberra."
Tigerair will restart daily flights between Melbourne and Canberra in early December with schedules and fares announced soon.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Tigerair’s re-entry will shake up the market and offer a credible low fare alternative to the big two Qantas and Virgin Australia.
"It was very expensive to fly to Canberra, when you look at the various destinations that are available for people out of Melbourne, they could fly a lot further for a lot cheaper on the low cost carriers than they could to get to Canberra," Barr said.
"This opens up a whole new market segment for our city, but for Canberrans as well, it means being able to get down to Melbourne for a very affordable fare."
