Jetstar- New Zealand Expansion Announcement

[Lukas M]

News is that tommorow Bruce Buchanan (new CEO;)), is in Auckland to reveal Jetstar's next expansion plans for the Kiwi Country. No word on what though, but plenty of speculation. Will they..
-Mergewith Jetconnect and becoming just "Jetstar"?? (those 734's are becoming of age now..)
-Adding Services across the Tasman from Auckland to compete with Pacific Blue??
-Taking up routes lost by Freedom, and just recently ANZ, to Australia??
-Going up against all carriers on NZ domestic, including JetConnect??

The only source that will back up my info is this NZ Radio Station post:

Strong rumours within the aviation industry suggest airline Jetstar will soon be a player in the New Zealand market.

Our newsroom has been told Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan will be making a significant commercial announcement at a media conference tomorrow in Auckland.

Jetstar's a part of the Qantas group and is the company's budget carrier
Anyone elaborate further...?

[Justin L]

Could explain why their NZ schedule is the only one not yet updated on the flight schedule page.

http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/travel-info/flight-info/flight-schedule.html

[Lukas M]

AKL-SYD
AKL-OOL
From New Zealand Herald...

Australian airline Jetstar will launch its transtasman services from Auckland with an $89 fare sale from midday today.
The low cost carrier this morning confirmed plans to expand its New Zealand operations and has put up hundreds of seats to Sydney and the Gold Coast at $89 for just 89 minutes.
The airline, a subsidiary of Qantas, will begin daily flights out of Auckland from April 28, subject to regulatory approval.
Between eight and 10 per cent of Jetstar's 5000 weekly seats would be offered at the low price, although its normal one-way fares would be the industry entry standard of $199.
The $89 offer applies to travel between April 28 and June 18 and applies to selected days and flights and excludes travel on public and school holidays.
Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said the airline would complement Qantas' four daily Auckland-Sydney services and he saw no reason for the parent carrier to scale back its New Zealand presence.
Buchanan said it was possible Jetstar could expand to fly domestic routes in New Zealand although it would depend on the impact of global economic crisis on demand.



He said the airline would "run the rule" over possible domestic routes - likely to be the main trunk - early next year and make a decision on whether to launch around the same time as it starts its services out of Auckland.
About 50 crew and backup staff would be needed to support the first aircraft to be based in Auckland.
The airline started services to four Australian cities out of Christchurch three years ago.
Set up in Australia in 2004, Jetstar now has about a 20 per cent share of that country's domestic market and also flies long haul routes to Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Hawaii.
The transtasman market has heated up in the past year as Australians and New Zealanders look to travel closer to home because of higher long haul air fares and financial pressure.
Pacific Blue has launched extra services out of Auckland, Air New Zealand has upgraded its aircraft on the route and Emirates is due to start its superjumbo A380 services from next February.

[Mike W]

More... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/aviation/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=556

Jetstar eyes travellers watching the budget

4:00AM Tuesday October 14, 2008

Jetstar is banking on budget-conscious travellers to support the airline as it expands in New Zealand and moves towards superseding some Qantas services. The low-cost carrier carrier yesterday announced it would fly once a day from Auckland to Sydney and once a day to the Gold Coast from next April ...goes on

Interestingly, the article contains a picture of the rear of a white JQ Boeing 717

[Stefan Perkas]

Here are tyhe schdules for the new Jetstar flights to and from AucklandSydney - Auckland and Gold Coast - Auckland route from 28APR09

JQ201 SYD0930 - 1435AKL 320 D
JQ200 AKL0715 - 0840SYD 320 D

JQ241 OOL1745 - 2245AKL 320 D
JQ240 AKL1535 - 1705OOL 320 D

[Arthur T]

Here are tyhe schdules for the new Jetstar flights to and from Auckland

Not a bad time for JQ ex-Sydney, where NZ102 would be in trouble...

Good time for NZers to go Australia, but for both ways, the return time is really terrible! (Too early)

[Mike W]

Are any QF flights being knocked on the head to make room for these or is only NZ targeted?

[Malcolm Parker]

There should be no QF cancellations however there might be a timetable allignment to cover the huge afternoon gap in Sydney. As NZ already has 5 services per day compared to QF's 4.

[Michael Morrison]

I believe NZ has also dropped a 777 frequency for an A320 on 1 of day of the wek (think ti is FRI) on SYD-AKL

[Mike W]

I think NZ usually run one 763 per day - NZ101/102?

[Justin L]

Is seems JQ are in the planning stages to take over many of QF's NZ domestic routes.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/jetstar-tipped-to-take-over-qantas-nz-routes-20081119-6b8c.html

Jetstar tipped to take over Qantas' NZ routes
Roeland van den Bergh
November 19, 2008 - 3:13PM

Qantas is laying the groundwork to hand over at least part of its domestic New Zealand network to budget offshoot Jetstar, experts say.

Qantas flies on the main trunk route and to Queenstown and Rotorua. However, a promised return of a Wellington-to-Christchurch service earlier this year, in response to Pacific Blue, failed to eventuate.

The Australian national carrier announced last week that it would slash its 113 weekly domestic flights by about 25 per cent by the end of January, starting early next month.

Two off-peak flights would be cut between Auckland and Wellington and Auckland and Christchurch as well as some flights to Queenstown and Rotorua.

Last week Jetstar began the formal application process for a New Zealand operating certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority. That process should take about three months.

Last month the airline announced that it would expand on the Tasman in April by adding flights to Auckland to its existing services to Christchurch.

Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said more services would be announced in February and linking Auckland and Christchurch was high on the list.

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said Qantas was preparing to replace its New Zealand domestic services with its budget brand Jetstar.

"We are starting to see Qantas repositioning with Jetstar into this market, that is my read of what is likely to happen."

Forsyth Barr head of research Rob Mercer said the replacement of the Qantas brand with Jetstar was always the more likely strategy.

The pricing pressure that Jet star could bring on Air New Zealand would depend on the schedule it flew.

The Dominion Post/www.stuff.co.nz