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Regional airline Link Airways is scaling back services to Sydney, and increasing Brisbane services, in New England and northern NSW.
The carrier will suspend services from Sydney to Inverell and Narrabri as of 1 March 2025, citing “reduced demand”, while ramping up flights to Armidale, Coffs Harbour, and Tamworth.
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“We will continue to monitor the market closely and look to return to Sydney when demand recovers,” the airline said in a statement.
“Customers on affected Sydney flights will be contacted and offered a full refund or a re-booking on alternative flights to Brisbane. Customers can continue to travel to Brisbane four days a week with Link Airways.
“Link Airways would like to thank the Inverell and Narrabri communities, and Councils, for their ongoing support since Link Airways commenced flights at both locations in 2017.”
Link will at the same time boost Brisbane services to six flights per week at Coffs Harbour and Armidale, and 10 per week at Tamworth.
Both the expanded Brisbane routes and the suspended Sydney route were part of Link Airways’ extended codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia, which officially went on sale last March.
The partnership, announced in January 2024, expanded Virgin’s regional footprint by around 45 per cent in the eastern states largely untouched by Perth-based Virgin Australia Regional Airways (VARA). The 17 routes involved equated to around 90 regional services per week.
“Passengers enjoy the benefits of earning Velocity Frequent Flyer points under the award-winning Velocity Frequent Flyer program when they travel, and Link Airways is pleased to provide complimentary pre-departure Virgin Australia Lounge access at Brisbane airport for customers travelling on ‘Flexible’ and ‘Freedom’ fares,” Link Airways said.
“Link Airways’ codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia also provides passengers great connectivity to Virgin Australia’s expansive route network.”
Link Airways was already in a close relationship with Virgin before the deal. Link customers can earn Velocity Frequent Flyer points in eligible fare classes, and the regional carrier began operating wet-leased Sydney–Canberra services for Virgin in 2022. Velocity Frequent Flyer also partners with another regional airline, FlyPelican, which mainly serves NSW.
Link last month resumed its seasonal Canberra–Coffs Harbour service, which will run until the end of April.
