No frills airline Jetstar is spreading its wings beyond the Tasman, launching low fare flights between Auckland and Singapore from next year.The direct daily flights will start from March 17 with Jetstar's two-class Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which seat 30
No frills airline Jetstar is spreading its wings beyond the Tasman, launching low fare flights between Auckland and Singapore from next year.
The direct daily flights will start from March 17 with Jetstar’s two-class Airbus A330-200 aircraft, which seat 303 passengers and provide Jetstar’s international business class ‘StarClass’.
The service will grow the route by more than 200 weekly seats.
It follows last week’s announcement by Jetstar to base a seventh 177-seat Airbus A320 to for use on New Zealand domestic or international routes later this year
New international flights were tipped last week when the airline said there were plans to develop a number of new markets with these aircraft as it looked to expand its wider pan-Asian network.
Jetstar has also announced a daily Singapore-Melbourne A330 service starting mid-December, with a one-way fares priced below $100.
Also on the way is a new Qantas Group international route from Auckland and connections to Jetstar and Qantas flights through Singapore to multiple Asian and European destinations. These flights are subject to regulatory approval.
Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said the new flights brought more competition to the route and new opportunities, through lower fares, to drive more travel between Auckland and Asia.
“Connecting our three largest operations in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore strengthens each of these businesses and builds a solid foundation for future growth beyond Singapore to North Asia and Europe,” Mr Buchanan said.
Auckland Airport chief executive Simon Moutter, said the new flights were a significant step towards achieving greater connectivity between the fast growing Asian markets and New Zealand.
“The low-cost carrier model is now being successfully applied to longer haul destinations, an important development which we believe offers the New Zealand tourism industry a fantastic opportunity to target the rapidly expanding low-cost carrier network and markets in Asia.”
Tourism Auckland chief executive Graeme Osborne said the direct connection to Singapore with low-fare flights was an opportunity to stimulate tourism to New Zealand from Asia.
Jetstar now operates up to 84 weekly return frequencies linking Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown.
An existing 38 weekly return Jetstar trans Tasman A320 services operate across six routes linking Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
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