Jetstar to start Dunedin flights in July

[jarden]

Jetstar will begin a daily direct service between Auckland and Dunedin on July 14, in a move that will break Air New Zealand's monopoly on the route.
The Australian airline says its everyday fares for the service - which is subject to regulatory approval - will be 40 per cent cheaper than those offered by the national carrier.
Group chief executive Bruce Buchanan said the new route would grow the Dunedin-Auckland air travel market by 46 per cent and link Dunedin with its Auckland hub, offering daily connections to Australia and Asia.
He expected the Aussie airline's announcement of the service to prompt "a fairly aggressive response" from Air New Zealand, which he said would be forced to lower prices.
"Normally what happens is [Air New Zealand] realise they can no longer gouge the market," he said.
The southern city will be Jetstar's fifth destination in New Zealand.
"As a leading South Island tourism destination and lively university city, Dunedin is a great fit for Jetstar's growing New Zealand network," said David Hall, the airline's Australia and New Zealand chief executive
Dunedin Airport boss John McCall said Jetstar's new A320 service would increase visitor numbers to the Otago and Southland regions.
Buchanan said the airline was also exploring "further possibilities" around the Queenstown market.
Jetstar expected Australian skiers to make more use of its direct transtasman service to Queenstown this winter as they avoided stopping in quake-hit Christchurch, he said

Jetstar plans Dunedin-Auckland link - Business - NZ Herald News (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10725003)

[waren9]

Will make schedule recovery a bit easier and cheaper when the weather closes in in ZQN I suppose.:rolleyes:

Be interesting to see if the daily service lasts beyond the end of winter and Uni break up.

[kiwipilot02]

Watch ANZ drop a Boeing in at the same time.

[jarden]

Schedules are as follows:

JQ283 0905 AKL 1100 DUD A320 Daily
JQ282 1130 DUD 1310 AKL A320 Daily

Jetsaver light fares from $99 one way

[Sue Ridgepipe]

"Normally what happens is [Air New Zealand] realise they can no longer gouge the market," he said.

Of course your mob don't gouge the market do they Bruce, they just gouge their staff.:mad:

[apache]

hmmm... a quick search on Cheap Flights, Airfares & Holidays - Air*New*Zealand Official Site - New Zealand Site (http://www.airnz.co.nz) reveals that they ALREADY have $99 seats. for July.

even looking at a seat for next week, whilst heavily booked, there are a few still quite reasonable fares, and June.. which is before jetstar starts, has fares from $109.

and, with only one flight per day... i dont think that ANZ will be too troubled. Matter of fact, if I was an airline, I would be QUITE happy to have jetstar as the only competitor!

[jarden]

It was an obvious choice for Jetstar, as Dunedin and also Hamilton are the only cities over 100,000 that is not yet served in Australasia. They can easily link Dunedin to their AKL Hub but not so easily connect Hamilton unless they start trans-tasman flying. Which don't seem to perform well for other carriers.

[NZScion]

Most punters in Hamilton who would want to fly on Onestar would probably also drive the 100 or so km from Hamilton to Auckland International.

[Cactusjack]

Is a great idea bro. Plenty of us New Zullander's looking for a great deal bro, and hear it is - Jitstar to Dunnedin, absolutely choice bro.