THE first flight to Singapore from Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport this week is set to benefit local producers of beef and vegetables.
Queensland Premier and trade minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said the flight was a tremendous opportunity for the region’s exporters.
“Exports remain vital to our economy with one in five Queensland jobs supported by exports. Protecting these jobs depends on continued access to supply chains and markets,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“These flights are critical in doing that by getting Queensland’s high quality agricultural produce on dining tables and into supermarkets and restaurants in key global markets.”
The Singapore Airlines flight from Wellcamp is under the Federal International Freight Assistance Mechanism which subsidises air freight to improve the return of agriculture and fisheries exports to international export markets.
This is the second IFAM flight from Toowoomba after a Cathy Pacific flight flew to Hong Kong on June 14.
“Local exporters have been helped by the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise, Austrade, Trade and Investment Queensland, our outstanding producers and of course the airlines,” Premier Palaszczuk said.
Other parties to the arrangement have been Trade and Investment Queensland and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Austrade.
A network of nine airlines and six freight forwarders are involved in IFAM flights which are to continue from Queensland and include the new routes of Toowoomba-Singapore and Brisbane-Los Angeles.
Wellcamp Airport was built by the Wagner Corporation.
