Jetstar announces service expansion

ANDREW GORRIE

TARGETED: The Jetstar plane landed safely despite being tracked by a high-powered laser for 10 kilometres.

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Jetstar is planning a significant expansion in New Zealand, with two new trans-Tasman routes, and increases to its domestic services.

Bruce Buchanan, chief executive of the budget wing of Qantas, said the airline would introduce a daily Auckland-Melbourne service from December and fly three times a week between Auckland and Cairns from next April.

The airline is also increasing the frequency of its service between Wellington and Auckland by three to 24 return flights a week from December and adding an extra four return flights a week between Auckland and Queenstown.

Speaking at the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit in Sydney yesterday, Mr Buchanan said demand had been such in New Zealand that it warranted extra flights. "New Zealand's been a great success story for us over the last year," he said.

"Customers have been flocking to the low-cost model and the demand has been high enough for us to say that we need to put in some more capacity."

Jetstar flies to New Zealand's three largest cities and Queenstown, but Mr Buchanan said the firm was constantly searching for new opportunities and routes, naming services to Dunedin and Hamilton as possibilities. It recently added new flights between Australia and Queenstown.

He also repeated calls for a simplified  and ultimately common  border between New Zealand and Australia. "Surely the common purposes of both Australia and NZ can crack the benefits of more simplified, hassle-free, trans-Tasman travel," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News