ANOTHER 90,000 seats will be made available in and out of Cairns when Tiger Airways launches a new service to Sydney starting in April.

The budget airline yesterday announced a new Cairns to Sydney route which will begin with four flights per week from Sydney to Cairns from April 4, with introductory fares of $59.

The flights will then be increased to a daily service in June in time for the Far North's peak tourism season.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland director of sales and marketing Brian Hennessy said the budget airline had the potential to open up a new market for the region's tourism operatorsand was more good news for the domestic tourism market, which is coming off a strong 2012 season.

"From a domestic point of view, Tiger comes in with some super fantastic prices and they invigorate a market where people might not have considered flying before," he said.

"It's also a fantastic endorsement of the enduring appeal of the destination."

Cairns Airport boss Kevin Brown said the success of Tiger's Cairns to Melbourne route had paved the way for the new Sydney service.

"We look forward to supporting Tiger on this exciting addition to their Cairns flights and are sure the new service will be well received by the travelling public," Mr Brown said.

"The new Sydney to Cairns service will add around 90,000 inbound and outbound seats per year to this route providing a significant boost to capacity for this important domestic visitor market."

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia currently provide about 1.2 million inbound and outbound seats for Cairns and Sydney flights.

Tiger Airways Australia commercial director Carly Brear said she expected the new flights to key Queensland tourist destinations to be popular with travellers.

"Tiger's new services to Cairns and the Sunshine Coast further increase our presence in Queensland, which is an ever-popular state for our customers to visit and also provide additional connectivity for Queensland residents who have been extremely supportive of Tiger's services to date," she said.

The flights will depart Sydney at 6.45am, arrive in Cairns at 9.50am, depart Cairns at 10.20am and arrive in Sydney at 1.15pm.

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