Jetstar has signed on for a second season of direct flights from Newcastle to Cairns starting in late June.
The budget carrier started flying to the tropical destination in June last year but the service lasted only three weeks due to COVID-19 lockdowns.
It resumed in December under a contract which expires at the end of April.
The airline has agreed to resume flights from June 25, in time for the mid-year school holidays, until October 29.
Jetstar will operate the service three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, carrying up to 4000 passengers a month.
Newcastle Airport said on Thursday that the flights would cost from $109.
The flights will take two hours and 50 minutes, leaving Newcastle at 12.05pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and 3.15pm on Saturdays.
The airport said Jetstar would continue to monitor demand and assess whether the route would extend beyond October.
The renewal of the direct flights comes just days after Qantas landed its first direct flight from Adelaide to Newcastle.
The Adelaide route also operates three times a week.
New budget airline Bonza announced in February that it would fly four times a week to the Sunshine Coast and twice to the Whitsundays.
Bonza said yesterday that it had started recruiting 200 pilot and cabin crew workers at its Sunshine Coast and Melbourne bases.
