A Strategic move?

Brisbane based full service airline Strategic Airlines has won US DOT approval and has been issued with a foreign carrier permit, with authorisation to fly between Australia and the US.

They have released details on their website of services from Brisbane and Melbourne to Honolulu Hawaii commencing on 14-December-2011, with fares available for sale from Monday 14-August-2011.  Fares begin at $499 ex Brisbane and $599 ex Melbourne.

Strategic are also set to rebrand themselves from Sunday 30-October-2011 as Air Australia.  With the rebranding Air Australia will also move to a new low-cost model. 

In addition to the launch of the Brisbane and Melbourne to Honolulu flights Strategic will also launch on the Brisbane-Melbourne domestic route.  Other changes to the Strategic route structure include the conclusion of services today Friday 12-August-2011 on the Brisbane-Gladstone route, the conclusion of the Brisbane-Townsville-Denpasar and Perth-Denpasar routes, while boosting services on Brisbane-Bali and flights to Phuket from both Brisbane and Melbourne.

Strategic targeted Brisbane and Melbourne as underserviced markets and said early this year it planned to move to seven leased A330s over the next three years, with the fleet growing to three by the first quarter of next year. An additional A320 aircraft will come to Australia later this year to bolster the three planes already here and a fifth could be added early next year.

Also as part of its expansion, Strategic have announced the creation of a Brisbane engineering base to service its Airbus fleet.

Read more from theaustralian.com.au HERE and check out the Strategic Airlines website HERE