Cairns Airport have rolled out the red carpet to welcome key SilkAir representatives arriving on the airlines’ inaugural direct flight to Cairns from Singapore yesterday.

The first flight was met with plenty of fanfare to mark this important occasion.

Key State Government representatives and Mayor of Cairns, Cr Bob Manning, was among the welcome party. Cairns Airport Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Brown, said the connectivity with Singapore that the new SilkAir service provides will be a great boost for the Cairns and Great Barrier Reef destination.

“It is an exciting day here at Cairns Airport as we welcome SilkAir as a new international carrier to our city. This Singapore service is a key link in our international network, giving holiday visitors from Asia and Europe a new option for easy access direct into Cairns,” Mr Brown said.

“It also offers convenient new options for local people to travel overseas, whether to enjoy Singapore as a destination in its own right or to connect through to other destinations.”

Commenting on the launch, SilkAir’s Chief Executive, Mr. Leslie Thng said: “We are excited to be adding Cairns in our growing network and we look forward to connecting thrill-seeking leisure travellers with Australia’s adventure capital.  This new route will also allow us to provide connectivity to travellers from Australia to Singapore and the rest of the world via our joint SilkAir-Singapore Airlines network of more than 90 destinations in 35 countries.”

The service will operate a mixture of direct flights between Cairns and Singapore and flights via Darwin with a minimal stopover time of approximately 50 minutes.