A ticketing glitch led to tickets for Jetgo flights between Dubbo and Melbourne after December 31 being unavailable for purchase earlier this week.
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A concerned customer contacted the Daily Liberal to say there were no flights available after the end of 2017, and expressed concern the airline may have cut the route after already scaling back the number of flights from three to two.
However Jetgo managing director Paul Brederick said there was no cause for concern and despite the route not being a big seller, there was no intention to cut it.
“We were concerned a couple of months ago, the bookings had been low but they have picked up since then. It’s not the best performing route but we aren’t planning to axe it,” Mr Brederick said.
While there were no flights from Dubbo to Melbourne past December 31, flights to Brisbane could be booked up until April.
However Mr Brederick said it must have been an IT issue and he would get it checked out.
By Wednesday afternoon, flights on the Jetgo website were able to be booked between Dubbo and Melbourne until late March.
Jetgo started flying directly from Dubbo to Melbourne in November 2015, just four months after starting flights to Brisbane.
The Dubbo-Brisbane flights are one of the best performers for the company, Mr Brederick said, with six return flights a week while Melbourne flights have been reduced to twice weekly, after starting with three.
Dubbo mayor Ben Shields said he was planning to meet with Jetgo in the coming weeks to ensure the relationship between the airline and council remained strong.
“I’m extremely keen to have discussions with Jetgo as soon as possible,” he said.
“They made a commercial decision to reduce the number of flights to Melbourne but since coming to office I have made it a priority to ensure we keep those direct flights.”
Cr Shields said there was an obligation for residents to utilise the service to show Jetgo it was valued.
“When Mathew Dickerson and I got Jetgo to commit to flying to Melbourne, Dubbo was warned that it was a case of ‘use it or lose it’,” he said.
Cr Shields said he had flown Jetgo and was impressed with how comfortable the flight was.
Earlier this week Orange also welcomed direct flights to Melbourne but Cr Shields said Dubbo was lucky to have the “superior” jet service.