People won't fly if they have nowhere to go.
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That is the problem facing Fly Corporate as it combats a reduction in passenger numbers on its Illawarra flights to and from Melbourne and Brisbane.
The coronavirus is having such an impact on all its 12 routes the airline servicing Shellharbour Airport is being forced to reduce the frequency of flights each week.
"We have put out a reduced schedule on Wednesday afternoon. It is in line with what everyone else is doing," network strategy and development manager Jeff Boyd said.
"We will keep working with our customers/passengers to try and get them where they need to be but there is no point in us flying around airplanes with one or two people on board. That is the quickest way to go broke.
"We are managing our business as best we can to stay in business. And the best way we can do that is reduce our schedule".
Mr Boyd said the airline is very grateful to the Illawarra community for its great support since flights started in November 2018 and will do everything it can to survive.
He said Prime Minister Scott Morrison's message to Australians that it is still okay to fly domestically was welcome but the problem is "they have nowhere to go to".
"It is not that people don't want to fly. The problem is what people need to fly for doesn't exist anymore. Whether it be a conference or a meeting, the biggest problem we have is people have no need to travel.
"There is no need to go to a major city to fly overseas because they can no longer go overseas.The problem is people have no reason to fly.
"On top of that corporations and government departments are placing travel bans on all their staff. Instead they are doing video conferencing and whatever else they can without having their people in the same room.
"We recognise this is a tough situation for all forms of business.
"Before this the Illawarra was going fantastic. This region is no more or less affected than any other of the 12 routes where we operate.
"We were looking at a really good year this year in the Illawarra. Things were going really well up until late last year. But unfortunately this is having a huge impact everywhere.
"The new schedule has been posted on our website. We are dealing with as many phone calls as we can. If people have enquiries then email is the best course".
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Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
