Tigerair Australia today kicks off the country’s only low cost flights between Brisbane and Perth, upping the choice on one of Australia’s longest domestic air travel routes.

The airline will operate a year-round base schedule of four weekly return services between Brisbane and Perth, increasing up to six times weekly in peak periods such as school holidays.

The inaugural service between the two destinations departs Brisbane Airport at 7.00pm local time and will arrive into Perth Airport at 10.45pm.

Tigerair Australia CEO Rob Sharp said the airline is confident the new services will prove popular with budget and leisure travellers, providing a welcome economic and tourism boost to Queensland and Western Australia.

“The new services between Brisbane and Perth will deliver over 80,000 additional seats through both airports annually, in addition to the 1.3 million and 350,000 seats that Tigerair carried through Brisbane and Perth Airports respectively in the twelve months up until the end of May 2017.”

“At a total of 3606km in flying distance, Brisbane to Perth is one of the longest domestic air travel routes in Australia.

“Considering the distance of this journey, Tigerair is providing an extremely affordable option for travellers to travel from one side of the country to the other, with special launch day fares on sale today starting from just $115 each way.”

“We thank Brisbane and Perth Airport and our tourism partners for supporting this new service. We look forward to continuing to work alongside them to ensure the sustained success of this route.”

Julieanne Alroe, Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) CEO and Managing Director said Tigerair’s network expansion is a keystone for BAC’s continued growth as the most connected airport in Australia.

“With more and more international travellers choosing Brisbane as their preferred gateway into Australia, connectivity provided by domestic airlines such as Tigerair is an attractive advantage of arriving into BNE.

“It is also important for Brisbane Airport’s growth that we have the right balance of full service network carriers and low cost operators, providing travellers with an abundance of choice – be it value for money or more premium options.

“Low cost carriers, such as Tigerair are critical catalysts for travel and tourism growth across the nation and every new service Tigerair commits is a win for both travellers and businesses alike.

“I would like to congratulate Tigerair on today’s launch and we look forward to working with the Tigerair team on exciting new opportunities as they continue to grow their network,” Alroe said.

Kevin Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Perth Airport, said the announcement of the new Perth to Brisbane route will provide Western Australians and Queenslanders a new convenient and affordable travel option that will boost tourism between the two states.

“Perth Airport look forward to continuing to work with Tigerair to develop new and expanded low-cost routes that WA travellers can take advantage of,” Brown said.

The new services between Brisbane and Perth are being facilitated by a third A320 aircraft which has been based in Brisbane since March 2017, creating an additional 50 Brisbane-based jobs (cabin crew, pilots and ground staff).

Special fares between Brisbane and Perth are currently on sale from $115 at tigerair.com.au and are available until 11.59pm AEST Friday 2 June or sold out. Fares between Brisbane and Perth will be regularly available at tigerair.com.au from $189.