JQ and Hayman Island
 

I noticed that Hayman Island was on JQ's booking engine so selected a dummy flight in October for Sydney-Hayman Island which came up with the following schedule.

I can't find this on the JQ PDF schedule (which hasn't been updated since its expiry on 29MAR09) and am not familiar with the region, but would the Hamilton Island to Hayman Island services be a flight, if so an A320 or are JQ codesharing on a smaller flight? Or perhaps a codeshared boat service, given that the duration is one hour even though the islands are close? The Hamilton Island-Hayman Island vv leg can also be booked as a standalone booking.

Yes it is a codeshare with a boat service. The codeshare agreement with the boat service goes back to when Qantas were flying to Hamilton Island.

Even before then Adam, goes back to Ansett, sometime before that I think it was an S-61 from the main land and Hamilton, but I stand to be corrected on that.

Regards
David

I spent a wonderful week on Hamilton Island last October and noticed that many arriving passengers walked from the airport terminal straight over to the wharf to catch their luxury launch to Hayman Island, about an hour away.

My first visit to the Whitsundays and it won't be my last. A fantastic part of the world.

Of course, if you want true style, there's always this way to get to Hayman Island, :D.

Sure as hell aint gonna land an A320 on that, :).

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Mick

I think Qantas is still doing 1x Daily bewteen CNS & HTI on a Q400.

So would anyone able to provide the flight details for those QF Codeshare ship services?

That's correct, David. The HTI-HIS vv. service was staple Ansett fare (particularly when Ansett owned Hayman Island, but all the way until its demise), and timetabled equipment was a 'launch'. I'm interested in Justin's observation that it can be booked as a standalone sector - did it give you a price Justin?

Last time I was up there, the rack one-way fare on the launch (which is owned and operated by Hayman) was $900ish, but I'm sure that 99% of the packaged visitors to Hayman pay nothing of the sort!

Hi Will,

For random dates in October, the cheapest fare was $155 one-way for both Jetsaver Light and Jetsaver, with $185 for JetFlex. It can't be selected from the main booking engine on the homepage, but once you make a booking you can select it from the "Search Again" booking engine at the bottom of the page with your flight selections.

Yes before Hamilton Island Airport opened in 1984 It was a Ansett S-61 service from Prosperpine? (I'm pretty sure it was Prosperpine)




Jason

I have a feeling that when Ansett owned Hayman the boat was called the "Sun Goddess" and the boat was decked out in Ansett livery. I'm sure someone will know for sure. In 2004 I flew Brisbane to Hamilton then went via the launch to Hayman. What suprised me was that I earned Qantas Frequent Flyer points for the boat sector!

Damian,

you are correct. The "Sun Goddess" was in Ansett livery. There was a second smaller launch in the livery as well back when I went there in 1998. Boarding passes were issued to you when you checked out, and Hayman visitors had access to the upstairs lounge at HTI.

I've also earned QFF points when I returned in 2002, and also on a launch from HTI to Daydream island and a separate trip. From memory QF also codeshared on the launches to South Molle, Shute Harbour, and one of the islands south of Hamilton whose name has slipped my memory.

Air Whitsunday provided seaplane charter flights to HIS from a number of different locations, and also trips to the outer reef. I've logged a return flight from HIS to Hardy Reef on VH-PGA :)

Damian and Craig are both on the money. The first of the 1990s Hayman launch fleet was 'Sun Goddess' (which wore both the old and new Ansett liveries, respectively). She was later joined by 'Sun Paradise' (new AN livery), and - in the very late nineties - the smaller catamaran 'Sun Eagle'. Sun Goddess was on the market for some time during the late nineties, but I seem to recall that it didn't sell, so they retained it for a while longer. I'm not sure what's currently in their fleet. As an aside, I got to know the Hayman harbourmaster (of many years' service), the result being that I logged quite a few helm hours (including quite a few HTI berthings) on Paradise and Goddess, but was never offered the helm of the flashier Sun Eagle :)

Ahh the memories!

Will

Hayman website still lists the same fleet names, but whther it's the same fleet is another issue!:)

Kent

Anyone got any pics of the boats in the AN livery?

Unfortunately not - I set up the QF check in system up there (piggy backing on the thru the AN system) and got to go to HIS on a number of occasions thru work.

Damn shame I never got to enjoy the place - but that launch trip was something else.

Do they still play that Enya song Orinoco Flow when departing HTI?:D

They smaller Sun Boats (Goddess and Paradise) are the originals. Dunno if Eagle is original because it was described above as "small catamaran". Eagle is definately not small and is the largest in the fleet. (Goddess is smallest in the fleet).

I cant believe that Jetstar charge $185 for a "Flex" fare when the actual cost of the transfer is $155. Most travel agents i deal with wont book that service with jetstar because they want the comission $$$.

I don't often see people booking it though, I have never come across one yet (and i probably book hayman 2 to 3 times a week).

Favourite of the boats has to be Eagle, so huge! But the Girls at my work love Paradise because of the Spa on the front (I have been on all 3 boats recently).