As Qantas continues to fly local services to Sydney that are almost empty, the airline is weighing up its options.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It is considering combining the Armidale and Tamworth services into one traingulated route, flying to both cities, while there have been fears that they could suspend all flights.
The airline has remained coy on its plans, except to say it is working on a new schedule. In the meantime there has been conflicting information about what would happen.
Armidale mayor Simon Murray said he contacted Qantas this week after he had heard the service would be axed.
READ ALSO:
"I've got a contact in Qantaslink, and I tried to find out what the discussion was, because we've heard they're stopping the Armidale run," Cr Murray said.
"But Adam Marshall's saying 'no, that's totally incorrect, they're not stopping the Armidale run'."
The council had been so sure of the information they had a press release written, ready to send on Wednesday. That's now on hold.
"I heard a whisper that they were going to (stop the service)," Mr Marshall said.
He contacted the airline's head of government relations, Trent Mumford, who told him something different.
"He informed me that they're not wanting to pull out of Armidale at all, they're actually talking to CASA and the federal government to seek approval to do a triangulated route between Armidale and Tamworth and Sydney, to keep a service going in both cities," he said.
Federal Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, said his office had been in numerous discussions with Qantas.
"Our goal is to make sure our area is still serviced on a daily basis to Sydney," Mr Joyce said.
Some Qantas flights were cut after travel bans were announced last month to reduce the amount of people flying, aimed at combatting the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr Marshall said passenger numbers across both New England cities had now dropped by nearly 70 per cent.
"I can't imagine, aside from medical reasons or work reasons, and there'd be very few of those, why people would be flying at all now," he said.
"You can understand that they can't afford to run empty planes."
But the airline has not announced any decision yet.
"They didn't want to pull out of Armidale, but they need to do something," Mr Marshall said.
Meanwhile, Cr Murray has asked his Qantaslink contact to let him know what the outcome is, as soon as possible.
"Nothing's confirmed, we haven't had it in writing from Qantas. It'd be really nice to be able to hear something definitive," Cr Murray said.
Qantas had been one of three airlines operating services to Armidale.
REX Airlines grounded its fleet last month, and suspended its daily services between Armidale and Sydney, while Fly Corporate stopped flying its Armidale to Brisbane route after the announcement of interstate travel bans.
ACM contacted Qantas and asked about their plans.
A spokesperson said: "We know the importance the national carrier plays in maintaining crucial services and we're currently working through a new schedule following a drastic reduction in demand across our network."
