The first flight arrived on Sunday night watched by the local aviation community, keen to get a photo of the aircraft and its Indigenous livery.

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Flying to and from Melbourne, the A220 increases services to five per week.

It has seating for 137 passengers, including ten business class seats.

Coffs Harbour Airport General Manager Frank Mondello, said seeing the A220 touchdown was an exciting milestone for the airport and community in terms of greater regional connectivity.

“Having the new A220 operating directly between Coffs Harbour and Melbourne will be a major boost for the region and our community,” he said in a statement.

“The A220 provides an incredible 71,000 seats annually between the two destinations, an increase of 20 percent on current capacity.”

Coffs Harbour is the second regional city in Australia to be serviced by the Qantas A220.

QantasLink CEO Rachel Yangoyan said it would provide an improved experience for travellers to and from Coffs Harbour.

“We’ve had great feedback from customers on the A220 since it first started flying on our network earlier this year.

City of Coffs Harbour Mayor Nikki Williams said the service provides “an enhanced link between our premier regional destination and a major metropolitan market – turbocharging opportunities for business and recreational tourism.

“The Qantas A220 service provides scale and will help Coffs leverage on its rare status as an ECO Destination.”

By Andrea FERRARI