Qantas’ limited Geraldton-Perth flight schedule to run until October, with extra Thursday flight from March

Qantas has revealed its limited Geraldton-Perth weekday schedule will continue until late October, with the addition of an extra flight on Thursdays added from March. The move will bring up the number of weekdays with double daily flights to three, still less than the previous arrangement before June 2022 which saw double daily flights each weekday. It follows Qantas’s statement in October last year, in which the airline said it would be running a limited schedule until at least March. “We remain committed to returning to double daily flights on weekdays as soon as we can once we’ve resolved ongoing resourcing and network constraints,” a Qantas spokesperson said. Qantas had operated a schedule with two flights each weekday, one in the morning and one in the evening, until June 2022 when it was reduced due to staffing issues which the airline said were causing flights to be cancelled. Since then it has run a limited schedule with a single midday flight on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Qantas said the reduced schedule has successfully reduced the number of flight cancellations, with no flight between Geraldton and Perth cancelled in December. The limited schedule has triggered criticism from local government, businesses and health workers as a single midday flight prevents a person from flying in the morning, doing their business or having an appointment, and flying back at the end of the day. City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said the existing schedule simply didn’t meet the demands of Geraldton as a major regional hotspot. “Having single flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays is deeply disappointing,” he said. After a number of announcements by Qantas, Mr Van Styn said it was frustrating to see Qantas continue to push the return of the normal flight schedule back. “We’ve been told a number of times over the last year or two that services will soon return to normal, all that is occurring is that it is brought further out,” he said. “To not even review this until October is disappointing.” Geraldton GP and chair of the Midwest GP Network, Dr Ian Taylor said that while this news would disappoint many patients and health workers, bringing back double flights on Thursdays was a “vast improvement” as many specialists take their appointments in Geraldton on Thursday and Fridays. “If they can take a morning flight on a Thursday and take a evening flight on Friday, it means they can do two full days work up here, so that’s going to be quite an improvement,” he said. “It partly addresses the medical side of the issue but there will still be people struggling to get to their appointments in the middle of the week.” Mid West Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Joanne Fabling said businesses had lost faith with Qantas. “We’ve got people purchasing their own planes, chartering, because the lack of confidence in Qantas is really impacting our businesses,” she said. Ms Fabling said the single flights being at noon was a particular problem for businesses. “You get to Perth or Geraldton half-way through a business day, you’ve only got a limited amount of time to lock in meetings and you’ve got to book accommodation,” she said