QantasLink says Tamworth scheduling changes have led to fewer cancellations

In November, reduced number of flights from Tamworth, but flew slightly larger aircraft. Following the change, the number of cancelled QantasLink flights departing Tamworth in December dropped to 1.6 per cent, compared to 3 per cent in November and 4.9 per cent in October.

On Monday, The Leader reported the region’s two major airports, Tamworth and Armidale, had almost 50 cancelled flights to or from Sydney in the last quarter of 2017. QantasLink, who operates at both airports, made up the bulk with 36.

A spokesperson for the airline said there was a spike in cancellations across the QantasLink network in October and November, which was due to a mix of engineering and crew availability, which had a knock on effect to other ports.

Tamworth Business Chamber president Jye Segboer said the high number of cancellations was hurting the region’s economic growth.

“We have a developer doing fair bit around town, who has had several flight cancelled in the last few months, which means project he’s working on are held up when he's dealing with third-party contractors,” Mr Segboer said.

“The continued delays makes it hard for future growth. We need to be seen as an accessible region.”

QantasLink chief operating officer, Jenny Chamberlain said the airline wanted to continue improving its performance.

“Performance on our regional routes has improved significantly as a result of the recent adjustments we made to our network and schedule,” she said.