Bendigo businesses to save time, money with new QantasLink flights

Be.Bendigo chief executive Dennis Bice said the move was "extremely important" for local business operators. 

"The fact that they can get to Sydney by 9am and spend a full day in Sydney with their businesses is great," he said.

"And it's not only us travelling to Sydney, but it's also the providers of goods and services coming from Sydney to Bendigo to support our businesses."

The inaugural flights, starting March 31, will be the first ever regular passenger services between Bendigo and Sydney. It will also be the first commercial services from Bendigo in more than 30 years.

CVGT Australia chief executive Paul Green said local businesses have been calling for interstate flights out of Bendigo Airport for a long time. 

Read more: New Qantas service to fly from Bendigo to Sydney six days a week

"For our business it will be a significant saving because we spend a considerable amount of time driving to Melbourne Airport and catching planes to Sydney," he said. 

"We've got branches up in Sydney, so this move gives us the opportunity to cut down our costs in getting to our regional offices and offices in other states."

Maxsum Consulting's Rebecca Ciancio said the new flights, which will operate six days a week, would also bring benefits to Bendigo's "business ecosystem". 

"One of the big issues being a technology company has always been around connectivity," she said. 

"This is just one layer of access to metro regions that regional Victoria and Bendigo has been waiting a long time for.

"Without that connectivity we can't grow our economy, much less expand it."

City of Greater Bendigo Mayor Margaret O'Rourke said the council has been planning this flight expansion for more than 20 years. 

"We wanted to make sure that we could get the best we could for our community and as you can see now it's all coming to fruition," she said. 

"It was important that we were looking for the red kangaroo and that's what we got."

While no other destinations have been announced yet, there were hopes the flight list could be expanded in the future. 

"We would certainly look to Adelaide, Canberra and potentially Brisbane," Ms O'Rourke said. "But certainly Adelaide makes a lot of sense obviously with the Bendigo Adelaide Bank."

"We also have a significant federal work force here in Bendigo, so Canberra is something that we certainly would be looking to."

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