Queenstown is the focus of Jetstar's latest expansion in New Zealand -- the no-frills airline has today committed extra direct flights into the adventure capital from Melbourne and a new route from the Gold Coast at the end of the year. The Queenstown-Gol
Queenstown is the focus of Jetstar’s latest expansion in New Zealand -- the no-frills airline has today committed extra direct flights into the adventure capital from Melbourne and a new route from the Gold Coast at the end of the year.
The Queenstown-Gold Coast flights will take off on the new trantasman route from December 17, the day after a new twice-weekly Queenstown- Melbourne service on a 177-seat Airbus A320 service will start flying.
The airline said it will also boost the number of weekly flights from Auckland to Queenstown to 11 from seven from Dec 1, supported by an additional A320 to be based in New Zealand to help boost international and domestic connections.
Together, the new flights represent an extra 72,000 seats annually.
Jetstar said the move is aligned to the growth in Queenstown Airport, following Auckland Airports’ recently acquired quarter-stake – expected to boost tourism in the region.
The $27.7 million alliance will see Auckland and Queenstown airports work more closely together to drive more tourist traffic into the country, with tie-ups in airport operations, retailing and property development.
Queenstown Airport expects the alliance to boost passengers through its gates by 176,000 a year within five years, translating to more than $150 million annual injection into the Queenstown economy.
Queenstown Airport chief executive Steve Sanderson said the airport was pleased to be opening up a new route from the Gold Coast -- a hub airport for Jetstar, with extensive direct connections from Japan and South-East Asia.
"A convenient link to Queenstown is now available and I'm sure this will stimulate the Japanese and Asian markets, which have been relatively flat over recent years."
Jetstar launched the new flights with a $99 one-way sale fare from Queenstown to Melboune and Gold Coast. With a normal price of $199, the flights will be up to 30% lower than competitor flights on the same route
Jetstar will have seven A320 aircraft based in NZ by December.
The airline is also launching daily, two-class Singapore-Auckland A330-200 services from March 17.
Jetstar has installed new navigation technology to its New Zealand fleet -- Required Navigation Performance – which is expected to reduce the estimated number of diversions due to bad weather and poor visibility from more than 10% to less than 1%.
