SHARP Airlines will review its direct Hobart to King Island services with the State Government’s subsidy set to end in April. The State Government subsidy was introduced in September 2020 in response to state border closures and the loss of interstate tourism markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The subsidy was designed to stimulate intra Tasmanian tourism and enabled Sharp Airlines to provide a direct connection between Hobart and King Island. The subsidy was extended following the 2021 state election and again at the end of 2022 to continue over the peak tourism season.
King Island Tourism president Adam Hely said the direct link to Hobart definitely increased the number of Tasmanian visitors to King Island.
“It’s what got a lot of operators through the Covid border shutdown period and beyond. “It continues to bring southern Tasmanians to King Island.”
Sharp Airlines has said that it will pause the route over the winter months and will undertake a full review into reintroducing the service.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the Government strongly values the King Island communities, which is why this subsidy was introduced in September 2020 to stimulate visitation when interstate markets weren’t available due to border closures.
“It has worked as intended, giving more Tasmanians the ability to holiday at home and support the Flinders and King Island economies right through the pandemic,” he said.
“We have extended funding for these services on a number of occasions, most recently in December last year to ensure the flights could continue over the peak tourism season.
“We do know that since the reopening of our borders, we have seen demand for the Hobart services in particular decline, while costs have increased due to higher prices for fuel and inflationary pressures. We are committed to supporting the visitor economy on our islands and we’ll take advice from the communities to ascertain how we can maximise their tourism potential into the future.”
Mayor Marcus Blackie said the council understood the State Government Sharp Airlines Hobart – King Island subsidy was coming to an end in April. “We thank the State Government for that program which greatly assisted bringing our tourism sector back after Covid,” he said.
“I note the intent of this subsidy was also a trial period to see if direct Hobart – King Island air links are now viable for airline operators such as Sharp.
“We consider this direct air link a successful trial that saw lots of passengers from Hobart come to King Island for the first time.
“Sharp was also able to utilize this service to fly mail, freight and cargo direct from our state capital to King Island, another tangible benefit. “We are hopeful that it will now be commercially viable for Sharp – or another operator – to continue this service in the future without subsidies.
“Furthermore, many King Islanders have spoken to me recently about the unacceptably high cost of airfares to/ from KI and limiting capacity during our peak tourist season.
“Our high-water mark for aircraft movements was late 2019 when for most days of the week King Island was the second busiest airport in Tasmania and we had a plentiful supply of seats and schedule options to connect.
“Since Covid restrictions were removed Rex and Sharp have only returned to about 65 per cent of their 2019 capacity.
“So I call on Rex and Sharp to further ramp up services to King Island if they have the additional capacity in their current networks to meet increased demand. I also remind King Islanders to be more discerning when planning and booking airfares to pick up the best value ‘community fares’.
“King Island Airlines has continued throughout, and I commend their consistently good performance. Our future aspiration needs to be to sufficiently increase our island population, economy, demand and airport complex so that additional airline operators may enter in the future, such as Qantaslink, Alliance, Link and Virgin.
“That needs to be timed right so that the smaller operators who got us through hard times are not pushed out. The rising tide needs to lift all boats with increased demand. With further upgrades to our airport complex and runways we may also in the future be able get shorthaul jet services back, surely the holy grail for our travelling needs.”
Meanwhile, Sharp Airlines current CEO, Dallas Hay, will retire after 14 years. Mr Hay will remain with the company as an advisor to the board but will be replaced in his current role by Alistair Dorward. Mr Dorward will commence with Sharp Airlines in March 2023, subject to regulatory approval from CASA.
Sharp managing director Malcolm Sharp said in a statement that Mr Dorward would bring a “wealth of aviation experience” after 30 years in operational management and consulting jobs.
Mr Dorward is the current CEO of Altara Group, a national recruitment, employment services and consulting organisation that specialises in customer-facing roles in the aviation and hospitality sectors.
Mr Dorward said that he was looking forward to his new responsibilities in the management and oversight of Sharp Airlines, along with implementing the company’s short- and long-term business strategies.