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Speaker 1: Nexus Airlines launched its inaugural flight on the Northern Route

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Speaker 1: Broom via Cannara to Darwin last Friday. The news service

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Speaker 1: is set to operate daily, providing cost effective regional connectivity

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Speaker 1: between the ports. And joining me on the line to

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Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more is Michael McConachy from Nexus.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you, yeah, really well, thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning. Now Michael tell us a little

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Speaker 1: bit about Well, about that first flight.

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Speaker 2: Look, it was great, it was it's been sort of

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Speaker 2: three years in the making and it was great to

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Speaker 2: be on board on the flight and we've got a

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Speaker 2: wonderful reception once we are landed in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Well, I reckon Northern Territorians are absolutely screaming out for

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Speaker 1: more connectivity and the ability to be able to fly

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Speaker 1: to other parts of Australia. So I reckon that people

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Speaker 1: are going to jump on board and be very keen

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Speaker 1: to get on board this flight.

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Speaker 2: Well, I hope so. And that's been part of it.

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Speaker 2: You know, we've seen that air travel in Northern Australia

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Speaker 2: and Northwestern Australia has become very costly and there's been

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Speaker 2: issues around reliability. So that's that's been a key driver

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Speaker 2: for us to come in with a service that can

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Speaker 2: hopefully address those issues.

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Speaker 3: And is that why Nexus was keen to offer these roads?

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Speaker 2: Look, it is, yeah. I mean I live in in

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Speaker 2: the Kimberley. I live in CANADAA and you know, travel

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Speaker 2: to go in and across the Broom on a on

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Speaker 2: a reasonably regular basis, and it's you know, it's it's

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Speaker 2: got harder to travel and it's got very expensive. So

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Speaker 2: you know, we're looking at providing an alternative and and

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Speaker 2: you know, keen to we're already you know, the uptake

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Speaker 2: has been very good, and we really want to build

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Speaker 2: tourism in the region a bit more as well. So

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Speaker 2: we've got other businesses that are tourism related and we

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Speaker 2: want to make it more accessible in both you know,

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Speaker 2: from the territory into the Kimberly and from the Kimberly

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Speaker 2: back into the territory.

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Speaker 3: How much is a demand of a demand for this route?

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Speaker 3: Is there? Do you think?

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Speaker 2: I think I think there's a reasonable amount of Tomatin

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Speaker 2: now and I think the potential to build it is considerable.

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Speaker 2: So you know, we're seeing the barrier for people to

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Speaker 2: travel into the region is the cost of getting here

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Speaker 2: and reliability about getting here. So I think by bringing

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Speaker 2: those costs down, we will be able to track more

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Speaker 2: people into the region.

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Speaker 1: Talk me through what those fair prices look like, because

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Speaker 1: you are spot on that is always, you know, one

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Speaker 1: of the biggest factors I think when it comes to

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Speaker 1: booking flights and looking at where going to travel to,

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Speaker 1: particularly if you've if you've got a family or or

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Speaker 1: you've got a book a few people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so look it's look, I haven't got all the

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Speaker 2: right in front of me now, but they're all on

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Speaker 2: our website. And we've opened up a number of new sectors,

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Speaker 2: so not just across the territory into the Kimberley, but

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Speaker 2: also right down the west coast of Western Australia from

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Speaker 2: Broom down to Perth, stopping at all the major ports,

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Speaker 2: and we are keen to grow our services more in

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Speaker 2: Northern Australia. So we're very keen to see where there

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Speaker 2: might be other areas of demand. Obviously it has to

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Speaker 2: stack up, so it's about you know, understanding where the

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Speaker 2: demand might be. But you know, we're seeing prices come back,

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Speaker 2: you know, under the two hundred dollar mark to some

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Speaker 2: of these sectors and you know that's that's probably a

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Speaker 2: third of where some of those prices have been over

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Speaker 2: the last three or four years. So it's you know,

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Speaker 2: we are really keen to see people coming back and

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Speaker 2: using air travels as the sort of primary way of

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Speaker 2: moving around and it has got out of reach for

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Speaker 2: a number of people. This brings up a kin.

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Speaker 3: Tell me how many days a week is the service operating.

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Speaker 2: So we're ramping up to seven days a week during

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Speaker 2: the dry season and at least five days a week

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Speaker 2: during the web. One of the things where we are

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Speaker 2: doing is in the middle of the day services so

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Speaker 2: people can come through from Kimberley and use Darwin as

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Speaker 2: a key transit point as well. I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of that has moved down to Perth and you know,

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Speaker 2: certainly in the time that I've lived up in this region,

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Speaker 2: probably seen a reduction of the people transiting through the territory,

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Speaker 2: of which I don't think is a good thing for

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Speaker 2: the territory. So we're hoping to bring that back and

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Speaker 2: really grow that market for people traveling from the east coast.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon, you spot on, you know, and very often,

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Speaker 1: like we talk about northern Australia and the fact is

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Speaker 1: we are all sort of you know, so connected, but

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Speaker 1: you know, people very often go to some of those

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Speaker 1: other major capital cities. So it will be really great

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Speaker 1: if we do see you know, more people you know

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Speaker 1: traveling across the area and certainly into Darwin, and hopefully

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Speaker 1: it means that we'll have that more connectivity as well

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Speaker 1: into some of the other major cities.

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Speaker 2: Well, we certainly hope so. And I mean, I think

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Speaker 2: you know, it's interesting that Darwin Airport are investing a

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Speaker 2: lot in to improve the accommodation there as well, and

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Speaker 2: we're going to work really closely with them to bring

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Speaker 2: people in from the Kimberley and from Western Australia through

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Speaker 2: to Darwin and hopefully they can spend some time in

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Speaker 2: Darwin as they as they transit through, but also create

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Speaker 2: opportunities for mini breaks for people in the Kimberley to

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Speaker 2: get out of the Kimberley because that's important from time

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Speaker 2: to time as well and get up to Darwin for

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Speaker 2: a long weekend or a week or you know, a

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Speaker 2: break up up in Darwin and Pacessa get territory. It's

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Speaker 2: down to the Kimberley a bit more.

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Speaker 3: I reckon. That sounds like a good idea.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Michael, we talk a lot, you know about doing

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Speaker 1: business in the Northern Territory and whether it's difficult, you know,

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Speaker 1: whether the red tape, the green table, all the different

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Speaker 1: you know sort of restrictions or different you know, different

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Speaker 1: hurdles you maybe have to jump through to do business

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Speaker 1: in the territory.

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Speaker 3: Whether they can be a bit.

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Speaker 1: Too much sometimes from your perspective with Nexus, has it

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Speaker 1: been quite a smooth process to be able to begin

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Speaker 1: operations here into the territory.

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Speaker 2: I've got to say it's been a it's been a

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Speaker 2: very positive process to this point. You know, working with

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Speaker 2: Darwen Airport, they've been very very good to work with

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Speaker 2: and very encouraging around Nexus bringing our services into the

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Speaker 2: territory and they're they're very keen to see terrorism grow

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Speaker 2: right across the region. So that's that's a great positive.

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Speaker 2: You know, we landed and were met by the Deputy

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Speaker 2: Chief Minister and Tourism Minister uh and and you know,

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Speaker 2: the reception was fantastic. So I think that we're really

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Speaker 2: keen to work with key stakeholders in the territory to

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Speaker 2: to not only you know, further develop this service, but

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Speaker 2: see what other opportunities there might be that are suited

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Speaker 2: to you know, our business and the aircraft type that

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Speaker 2: we're operating.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good stuff. Hey, what type of aircraft is it?

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Speaker 3: It's operating.

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Speaker 2: So we're operating the the Havelin Dash eight Q four

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Speaker 2: hundred aircraft. So it's a seventy six seat turboprop aircraft.

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Speaker 2: But it's a very fast aircraft. It's very similar speeds

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Speaker 2: to the jets that have been operating in this region.

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Speaker 2: There are very fuel efficient aircraft and we think, you know,

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Speaker 2: they're really nice to travel on and think they're ideas

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Speaker 2: ideally suited for regional travel around Northern Australia.

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Speaker 1: Well, Michael mcconachey, the Nexus Managing Director, I really appreciate

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Speaker 1: your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Thanks very much for having a chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie, thank you,