When AirAsia announced their plan to go international, forums were abuzz with "we can go back 3 times a year!" conversations. But can we?
First, a geography lesson: AirAsia is not flying to Brisbane Airport. They are flying to Coolangatta Airport. And its not near.
Brisbane at the top, Coolangatta at the bottom.
Geographically, its about 110km from Brisbane. Or just slightly more than an hours drive. But thats assuming that you have a car or someone to send you in the first place.
One would have thought that Brisbane airport, with their half-hourly airtrain service, would be a logical point for budget travelers, who would prefer public transport. But instead, when they land at OOL, they'd have to get a taxi. Which at A$1.10 flagfall and $2.50/km, is probably going to be almost as expensive as flying here in the first place.
OOL is an interesting airport in that one end is in QLD and the other end in NSW. So in summer, walking from one end of the runway to the other end, you kinda gain or loose an hour, depending on where you start.
Click to see larger picture.
Its probably fitting, as Tweed Heads is where most people go and usher in the new year twice. The town in divided by Main Street; one side is in QLD, the other in NSW. So people call in the new year on the NSW side first, party like mad, then cross the road, and do it all over again on the QLD side. Some one needs to find where QLD, NSW and SA meet; then they would be able to usher in the new year 3 times! :D
Public transportation to OOL is poor as far as I can see. The closest is Robina. Trains depart Central to Robina every half-hour or so, and it takes about an hour and half to get to Robina, one way setting you back $11 (which doesn't sound too bad, as the airtrain is also $11 one way to BNE). From Robina is still a 20km journey to OOL. So if you thought getting to KLIA was far, its going to be worst with OOL. My guess is that people will need at least 2.5 hours just to get from Brisbane to OOL.
Thats even longer than fighting my way down the causeway!
Personally, I hope that AirAsia X fails. Only because the low-cost model doesn't work with long haul. Seriously, just getting to and from the airport is an adventure in itself! Just thinking about makes me want to say "I'm going to need a holiday after that!".
1 comment:
The fireworks in both Coolie and Tweed are great to see from a height (Tugun or Tweed hills like Bilambil). AirAsiaX have never advertised as flying to Brisbane. The Gold Coast is a destination in its own right, and the bus connections from Coolangatta direct up the highway almost a 1/3 the way up to Brisbane (passing 20 gold coast beach front suburbs) are frequent and run 24hours a day.
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