A Quick Visit to Lord Howe by Airline Representatives

Skytrans officials, Gytis Gumuliauskas (CEO) and Richard George (Commercial Officer), made a quick visit to Lord Howe Island on the 22nd & 23rd May, to brief the Lord Howe Island Tourism Association and Island residents on Skytrans’ progress in taking over Sydney/Lord Howe RPT service from QantasLink. They met with the LHITA on the afternoon of Thursday, 22nd May, and with Island residents in the Museum audio-visual room on the morning of the 23rd. Many issues were raised by Island residents, particularly relating to resident fares, availability of frequent flyer seats, and the ability of the holiday market to book up to 12 months in advance. It was explained that some teething problems were being experienced in integrating Skytrans bookings with the Qantas website, but that these issues were being worked through. A fresh Q & A sheet would be issued in the future covering many of the concerns raised.

Then, on Tuesday, 27th May, two QantasLink representatives flew into Lord Howe – Adam Mee (Regional Manager, Vic., Tasmania and NSW,) and Joshua Hogan (Regional Sales and Development Manager, NSW and Vic.). They met with the LHITA on the 27th, and held a public meeting on the morning of the 28th – again in the Museum audio visual room – to which members of the community were invited. They reassured the meeting that the codeshare arrangement with Skytrans would mean that Qantas would continue to promote the Island in Australia and overseas, that passengers would still conveniently connect onto other Qantas flights and that those flying into Sydney would continue to enjoy the benefit of using Terminal 3 at Sydney airport.