Jetstar announced plans to further expand domestic services and capacity from Melbourne Airport commencing in March 2008, supported by the introduction of a future fleet of Airbus A321s.
Configured for up to 213 passengers in single class, Jetstar’s inaugural A321 operations commencing 18 March 2008 will also support a total 18 new weekly return domestic flights on a number of strong performing markets operated by the value based carrier’s existing A320 aircraft fleet based in Melbourne. This includes:
Melbourne-Cairns from 7 to 11 times weekly starting 18 March 2008.
Melbourne-Hobart additional daily to 5 times daily starting 18 March 2008
Melbourne-Sunshine Coast additional daily to 3 times daily starting 18 March 2008
Melbourne – Gold Coast 8 times daily service inc 3 times daily A321 flights starting 8 April 2008Jetstar Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said the airline would base its first three Airbus A321s at Melbourne Airport from March 2008, creating over 150 direct new jobs in pilot, cabin crew, engineering and airport customer service positions in Melbourne.
“Our growing mix of new A321 and A320 services from Melbourne Airport will provide an additional 8500 weekly seats for our Melbourne domestic operations and further build our domestic capacity at Melbourne Airport to offer almost 200 weekly return services by April next year,” Mr Joyce said. “Melbourne Airport remains all critical to the future projected growth of Jetstar and our overall Victorian based domestic and international services now support close to 1000 direct jobs across the state.”
Jetstar’s special two-for-one fares now start from A$79 on the Melbourne-Hobart route, A$99 on the Melbourne-Gold Coast route and A$109 on the Melbourne-Sunshine Coast route all inclusive for two people. Fares are quoted for one way travel.
The special web fares are available until 4pm (15:59) AEDT 30 November 2007 unless seats sell out prior. Only for travel from 8 April – 29 May 2008 on selected days and flights. Conditions apply.
Mr Joyce said the introduction of new domestic capacity by Jetstar to and from Melbourne would offer almost 2500 additional weekly seats separately to both Melbourne-Hobart and Melbourne-Sunshine Coast markets.
In addition, the value based carrier will also inject a further 2100 weekly seats onto the Melbourne-Cairns route and close to 1400 additional seats each week on Melbourne-Gold Coast through the first time introduction by Jetstar of A321 services
“Our introduction of an A321 fleet firstly onto some of our strongest domestic routes from Melbourne is in direct response to existing growth opportunities,” Mr Joyce said.
“As the largest member of the Airbus A320 family, the A321 offers Jetstar a suite of benefits to meet the demands of a growing market and to maintain our low fares leadership position.”
Mr Joyce said the A321 offered superior seat-kilometre costs of any single-aisle aircraft within its class and provided the flexibility of adding additional seats per sector over services now operated by A320s. Recently approved by the Qantas Group Board, Jetstar’s narrow body operations will expand by an order of up to 108 aircraft including 68 A320 / A321 aircraft plus 40 options and purchase rights for the value based carrier is to proceed.
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