Jetstar is to start operating between Wellington and Queenstown for the first time since 2013. The airline says it is providing travellers with a choice - Air New Zealand currently flies the route. The airline will operate an Airbus A320 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, departing Wellington at 8:35am and returning from Queenstown at 10:25am, with flights commencing March 27 next year. Jetstar Head of New Zealand Daniel Banens said Queenstown was a world-class destination and the airline was delighted to be back on the route. "We've worked closely with Wellington and Queenstown airports to identify customer demand and we're looking forward to providing a low fares option on the route ahead of the 2018 ski season," Banens said. "Queenstown is hugely popular with our customers and has experienced significant passenger growth over the past few years. "We're sure Wellingtonians will welcome having a choice of airline to the southern tourist resort and we also expect the service to be popular with Central Otago travellers visiting the capital for business or events." It will be Jetstar's fifth domestic route from Wellington and second domestic route from Queenstown. The airline currently flies from Wellington to Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson, and between Queenstown and Auckland.
JQ is only doing it, as NZ are still operating the direct services using A320 and ATR72.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they didn't try jumping back on the CHC-ZQN route.
ReplyDeletethis seems to be at the expense of the Wgtn Dndn flight on these days. One wonders how long Jetstar will last this time on this route...
ReplyDeleteIt leaves at the same time as the Air NZ one stop service to ZQN through Christchurch. The days don’t work for weekend skiers. The timetable may work for businessmen from Queenstown but how many are there going to WLG and how many of those are willing to fly Jetstar? At least the Wellington airport company seems to be trying to strengthen regional services from Wellington. But the news is not good on other routes - services to Gisborne drop to two a day early in 2018 and all the traffic growth out of TaupÅ this year has been to AKL (up 50%) not WLG (static).
ReplyDeleteGIS goes back to 3 daily from WLG after the summer period. They've taken capacity from regions whose main markets are businesses so they can provide their extra capacity to tourist destinations over summer.
DeleteUm... WLG-TPO would be static considering Eagle air being wound up and Air NZ not seeing the financial support for a 50 seat Air Nelson service, they havnt flown the route for almost two-thirds years now.... on the other hand... Sounds air now operates the route which means that Wellington still has that regional service.. .
DeleteThe daily A320's are direct non-stop services and there is an odd direct non-stop ATR72 service.
DeleteSounds Air have been running WLG-TPO for 30 months now. The 2017 figures are no higher than 2016. The third Gisborne flight was dropped 10 days back after bookings had been taken. It was not a business flight but a mid-afternoon flight. Tourists go in summer not in the winter, so they have taken tourist destination capacity out of Gisborne not put it in.
DeleteYour original comment how I interpreted it, suggested that Wellington was lacking regionally regarding Taupo when infact, it still had a domestic flight. Then you mentioned that it was static and now that it's growth is no higher then than it is now....
DeleteYou can't really compare sounds with Air nz. And you can't really measure growth in that sense when sounds air are flying a 9 seat aircraft and air NZ flies its Q300 to Auckland and that they are able to charge lead in $45-60 airfares when sounds air flies its 9 seater aircraft and has to set a price that makes a profit and also sets it so that it's the same price ... success for Sounds is that it's still flying 30 months on flying a profit and has yet charged the council for less than three seats. It's frecency is not a lot of flights but when you look at Sounds price, it's no surprise but Sounds air has made it work for them. So it's not bad news regarding Taupo to Wellington. Potentially it could grow with b1900s... but once again... 19 vs 50 Air NZ still wins...
But look at it in this regard... Wellington has three/four major domestic operators that inject colour to the apron and a variety of regional services regardless of the frequency
"The third Gisborne flight was dropped 10 days back after bookings had been taken. It was not a business flight but a mid-afternoon flight. Tourists go in summer not in the winter, so they have taken tourist destination capacity out of Gisborne not put it in."
DeleteYou misinterpreted what I said. The 3rd WLG/GIS flight has been dropped over summer. It is returning in early 2018 when the summer season is over. The reason for this is so that Air NZ can free up some aircraft to add extra capacity to destinations with more demand over summer. WRE (for example) is also down to 3 daily (2 daily on some days) from 4 daily for a small period over summer as KKE has more demand as a tourist destination (5 daily on some days over summer). Regular timetables resume in February/March.
Absolutely a wise move as the more business orientated routes clip back a little over jan and pick up again from feb. nothing new, only been happening since the NAC days. Nothing to see here.
DeleteJust one day after Jetstar reinstated flights between Wellington and Queenstown, Air New Zealand has increased the number of seats it offers on the route.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99906999/air-new-zealand-takes-jetstar-on-in-queenstown