Airlines launch new routes to Melbourne

New airline routes have been launched from the UK to Melbourne to encourage British travellers to visit the Australian city.

Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways and Emirates will all be launching new routes to encourage visitors to the city.

From December 6th Qatar will launch a new service to Melbourne from London Heathrow or Manchester; the airline's first destination in Australia and will include three weekly services from its hub in Doha, which will become daily early in 2010. The new one-stop service, and a Doha connection time of one hour, will make Qatar Airways one of the fastest airlines from the UK to Melbourne.

Claire Golding, Tourism Victoria's regional manager for UK and Europe said: "2010 really should be Melbourne's year.

"British travellers flying into our state were up by two per cent in August in 2009 but with so many new flight routes, great value launch offers and a range of stunning world class events and attractions we're confident in welcoming even greater numbers of British visitors in 2010."

At the end of September Singapore Airlines increased capacity to Melbourne by ten per cent by introducing an Airbus A380 – the world's largest passenger aircraft on the route between Singapore and Melbourne. The airline now flies 21 weekly services between Singapore and Melbourne.

From March this year British travellers have also been able to travel to Melbourne with Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi. And in February this year Emirates added a third daily flight to Melbourne with connections from six UK departure airports - Heathrow, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. Emirates has also launched a new airline pass with Virgin Blue meaning that visitors to Melbourne can extend their visit to the rest of Australia.

Air Asia X also began flying to Melbourne at the end of 2008 and other carriers featuring the city include Air France, British Airways, Air China, Cathay Pacific, Korean Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Air New Zealand, Qantas, Thai Airways and United Airlines.

Travelbite.co.uk staff

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