Cairns Airport – WELCOME CHINA EASTERN

2012-11-04 — /travelprnews.com/ — The red carpet will be rolled out at Cairns Airport tomorrow morning to welcome the inaugural China Eastern Airlines flight on the new scheduled service non-stop from Shanghai.

The flight is due to arrive at 8:00am. Special guests to be officially welcomed by Chairman of North Queensland Airports, Marcela Zeman, at a function to mark the inaugural flight include the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Eastern Airlines, Mr Ma Xulun, the Chinese Consul General Mr Sun Dali, the Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney, the Minister for Tourism, Jann Stuckey, Member for Cairns Gavin King, Member for Barron River, Michael Trout and the Mayor of Cairns, Bob Manning.

The arriving Chinese passengers will be treated to a performance by indigenous dancers before official proceedings commence with a Welcome to Country and addresses by special guests.

Cairns Airport Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Brown, said the inaugural flight marks the culmination of months of work which began when China Eastern announced the new service in July this year.

“Since then both Cairns Airport and the region as a whole have worked hard to ensure we offer our Chinese visitors a warm welcome and meet the needs of Chinese visitors,” Mr Brown said.

“The service provides direct access from mainland China, one of our fastest growing tourism source markets, and strengthens the positioning of Cairns as the Asian gateway to Australia.”

“The direct flight gives Chinese visiting Australia the opportunity to arrive into Cairns, enjoy our region and then continue on to other Australian destinations, or to arrive elsewhere, complete their holiday here and depart from Cairns.”

“It also offers the opportunity for Australian travellers to take a direct flight to Shanghai to visit China or take advantage of the excellent connections through Shanghai to hundreds of global destinations. The more we can promote and support these opportunities the stronger the chances that China Eastern can continue and grow the new service.”

“China Eastern are initially operating a schedule that offers two to three flights per week on the route. These flights will inject a significant contribution of between $25 – $ 35M per year to the regional economy and generate hundreds of new jobs.”

“Our aim is to make this a year round service to provide even greater benefit to the region. We will continue to work closely with China Eastern and other key partners including the Queensland Government, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Australia, Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Cairns Regional Council and Advance Cairns, to make that happen.”

“Bookings on the flights for the first few weeks are strong and we anticipate next week’s launch will add momentum to the extensive marketing campaign that’s already underway.”

“The large contingent of Chinese and Australian media coming to cover the inaugural flight will also have the opportunity to experience some of the many attractions Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef region has to offer so they can spread the word to potential Chinese visitors.”

“As we finalise the preparations for tomorrow’s inaugural flight we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with China Eastern Airlines.”

Tourism Tropical North Queensland Chief Executive Officer, Rob Giason also welcomes the inaugural flight.

“The arrival of Flight CZ 335 marked a symbolic part of the region’s journey to attract 200,000 Chinese visitors by 2015,” Mr Giason said.

“Today we celebrate the arrival of China Eastern with so many of our valued partners who have been working together to bring direct flights from China to Cairns.”

“This work will continue to ensure the flights are viable and we maximise the economic opportunities they bring to Tropical North Queensland as the closest Western resort destination to China.

“Tourism in Tropical North Queensland has a 20-year history with the Chinese market and we look forward to our community building closer social and economic ties with China.”

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Media Contact:
Helen Laird / Corporate Communications Manager
P 0418 191 652
E helen.laird@carinsairport.com.au

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