Qantas has replaced Jetstar on its Melbourne to Hamilton Island direct route, upgrading its offering to the Whitsundays island.
The first flight took off on Saturday morning with an almost-full plane as Melburnians looked to escape the cold winter. The twice-weekly service takes a little over three hours to reach the island.
Qantas now offers direct flights to Hamilton Island from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns. Jetstar, which previously flew the Melbourne route, will switch to flying Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast.
The launch of the new service coincides with a new virtual reality experience through Samsung's Geart VR headset. Through it, users are able to take a tour of Hamilton Island, including luxury resort Qualia, as well as experiencing the Great Barrier Reef from the air and underwater. The VR headsets are provided in the first class cabin of Qantas A380s and will also be available in the airline's international lounges.
Competition on the Hamilton Island route is just the latest battleground between Qantas and full-service rival Virgin Australia. Virgin also launched direct flights to Hamilton Island from Melbourne in August 2013.
The two airlines have been involved in a costly capacity war on domestic routes in recent times as they fight over shares of the lucrative business travel market, with both carriers launching new seats and other products and services in the past year. On this route, however, it is well-heeled leisure travellers who will be the prize.
Hamilton Island is home to several high-end resorts, the leader being Qualia, a property regularly rated as one of the best in the world and named, by US travel publisher Conde Nast, as the world's best resort in 2012. It was also the only Australian property to make Conde Nast Traveler's list for 2015.
Qantas will also shortly announce the expansion of its relationship with celebrity chef Neil Perry, whose involvement in the airline's inflight dining options has now extended beyond food to wine. Perry's own choices of wine will now be on offer on board, replacing the existing wines selected by a panel. Qantas spends $15 million a year on wine, making it the third-biggest buyer in Australia behind Woolworths and Coles.
Qantas also on Friday resumed flights on the Perth-Singapore route with five flights a week.
Meanwhile, research has shown some Australians are now choosing to take short weekend trips to international destinations, rather than the tradition of limiting short trips to domestic travel.
The writer travelled as a guest of Qantas and Hamilton Island.
