Passenger planes between Warrnambool and Melbourne will return with a deal done to bring a service back to south-west skies.
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Portland and Hamilton will also see flights return when Southern Airways launches services in about six to eight weeks.
The south-west has been without a service since Sharp Airlines pulled out of what it said was an "unviable" route in June last year despite a $300,000 support package from the state government and councils to keep it in the air.
Initially, the Warrnambool and Hamilton services will operate three days during the week - as well as a flight to Melbourne on Saturday which returns on Sunday - but the hope is demand will increase that to a daily service.
But in Portland, the company will offer a daily return Melbourne service as soon as the service takes off, but it hopes to increase that to two return flights a day.
Southern Airways general manager Brendon Hempel said the company had been looking to start a service in the region for about a year-and-a-half, but it was only in January it first met with the operators of the three regional city airports.
"We've got aeroplanes ready in Essendon and all the approvals in place waiting to launch," he said.
Mr Hempel said the impact of coronavirus had delayed the launch, which was originally set for the start of July.
"Passengers don't want to come into the hotspots in the centre of Melbourne at the moment, we're going to have to wait," he said.
Mr Hempel said the Warrnambool service - which would initially operate Monday, Wednesday and Friday - would originate in Portland about 7am.
After a stop off in Warrnambool to pick up passengers it would arrive in Essendon about 8.30am and would return about 4.45pm, arriving in Warrnambool at 5.45pm.
"We're flying from Portland everyday, but until we know the actual demand with Warrnambool we're just starting tentatively at that level, but if the demand's there we can do daily services," Mr Hempel said.
"We were thinking within a month or two at least we would double those frequencies, but we just want to launch conservatively and go from there.
"We'll expand services everywhere as required."
Hamilton's direct service to Melbourne will operate separately to the Portland/ Warrnambool service.
The 10-seater twin engine Piper Chieftains were similar to the planes former operator Sharp Aviation used before it moved to larger aircraft, he said.
He said every plane would operate with two pilots.
Mr Hempel said the company had operated services in Alice Springs and Mount Isa for about 20 years.
"The fleet is about 10 aeroplanes and we've bought two more to move into Essendon. So we've got three at Essendon now and two more available to move down," he said.
One-way tickets are expected to cost about $229, but Mr Hempel said the company was looking to reduce the cost.
"It's exciting to be a part of. Obviously there was a huge market for it years ago and it's amazing that it's gone so long without someone trying to launch another service," he said.
Warrnambool City Council's economic development manager Andrew Paton said a passenger plane service between Warrnambool and Melbourne was "critical" for the region and something a growing city needed.
Mr Paton said the region had been without a service for more than a year, and he hoped the demand would be strong.
He said a lot of the patronage for the service was from health professionals and consultants visiting Warrnambool.
Mayor Tony Herbert said the fact the city could attract another passenger carrier during this time was really promising and exciting.
"It's a really important thing that a regional capital city have a regular air connection to its state capital city," Cr Herbert said.
He said with so much going on in the region with improved health facilities, cancer centre, university opportunities and renewable energy projects, a regular air service was vital for the area to continue to grow.
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