SkyBus will start running between Launceston Airport and the city next month, giving travellers a dedicated airport bus for the first time since April 2024.
Tickets went on sale today at half price until November 30, which cuts an adult one-way fare from $16 to $8.
Buses will run seven days a week from November 2, with times set around flights.
The first bus leaves the Launceston Regional Transit Centre on St John Street at 4:30am. The last leaves the airport at 10:45pm.
There are six city stops, including the Launceston General Hospital, City Park and Princes Square.
The trip takes about 32 minutes to the airport and 35 minutes back.
Two buses will run each day. They are low-floor and wheelchair accessible, with luggage racks and free Wi-Fi.
Outside the launch offer, two or more adults travelling together pay $14 each and pension holders pay $8.
Family fares are $16 for one adult and up to four children or $28 for two adults and up to four children.
Kinetic service delivery manager Grace Van Beest said passengers were already trying to get on the bus when it was parked at the airport this morning.
“I think it’s really needed,” she said. “We’re certainly seeing a lot of community sentiment for the service.”
The service is a 12-month trial, funded with $1 million from the state government.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff promised it during the election campaign in June 2025.
Local Liberal MLC Nick Duigan said the trial would show what demand looks like.
He said the best outcome would be “a service that stands up on its own two feet”.
Van Beest said Kinetic would closely monitor passenger numbers. She said the state government would decide whether the service continues after the trial.
Launceston Airport had 1,478,925 passengers in the last financial year, its busiest on record.
The Launceston Airport Shuttle Bus stopped running in April 2024. SkyBus ran a five-day service for the Foo Fighters concert in January.
Kinetic general manager Tasmania Andrew Grzinic said SkyBus’s Hobart service showed what was possible.
“The Hobart city express carried more than 132,000 people last year and it has become part of how that city works,” he said.
