Australia’s privately-owned Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport has announced weekly air cargo flights to Hong Kong, kicking off on 22 November.
Cathay Pacific Airways will operate the cargo services from the Toowoomba-based airport in Queensland's Darling Downs agricultural region –the only scheduled international freight-only service in southern Queensland.
Cathay trialled a cargo flight from the Wellcamp Airport to Hong Kong last year, with the new service to operate from Sydney to Melbourne before stopping at Toowoomba and then flying direct to Hong Kong.
“We are absolutely delighted Cathay Pacific has committed to operating a scheduled weekly Boeing 747-8F service out of the airport,” said John Wagner, co-owner and developer of the Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport. “The opportunities this creates for Queensland exporters to benefit from Australia’s free trade agreements and to access the world’s biggest consumer markets are unlimited.
“We are on the cusp of very exciting times and the reality for our multi-million-dollar agricultural and processing sectors is produce like chilled beef and other perishables will be able to fly direct to Asia from the region in which they are produced, creating both valuable first-mile and cool chain efficiencies, and enabling significant capacity for the growth of trade.”
Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport opened in November 2014, and also operated domestic passenger service each week.
