Avalon and Jetstar heading for the stars
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Avalon and Jetstar heading for the stars
Wed "Mebourne Age"
Avalon and Jetstar heading for the stars
By Dan Silkstone
Transport Reporter
November 3, 2004
It is five months this week since the first Jetstar aircraft took off from Avalon. In that time, more than 165,000 passengers have passed through Melbourne's newest passenger airport, at the rate of 1000 a day.
Since opening in May, the small terminal has been extended four times, with the fifth addition (a new bar) to be completed in the next few days.
Qantas offshoot Jetstar has maintained that it can grow the domestic aviation market and entice new passengers with its budget fares. The company says market research has proved it right, and it provides an interesting snapshot of who is using the former maintenance airstrip owned by trucking magnate Lindsay Fox.
According to the survey of 1500 Avalon passengers, one in 10 are flying for the first time. A further 37 per cent are infrequent travellers who fly only once or twice a year. Importantly for the fledgling airline, 92 per cent of those surveyed said they would use Avalon again.
"They are just delightful figures," Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said. "We are opening up new opportunities for a demographic that has not travelled much in the past."
Avalon is also poised to snare a lucrative new route to add to its six daily Sydney and Brisbane services. Jetstar has been in negotiations for several months to begin flights to Adelaide and an announcement is expected before Christmas.
Talks have been under way between the airline and management of Adelaide Airport. But Jetstar is also talking to the Federal Government and the RAAF about using Edinburgh Airbase, 20 kilometres south of Adelaide, near the town of Elizabeth.
Regardless of which Adelaide airfield the company signs with, services on the Melbourne-Adelaide route will be based at Avalon rather than at Jetstar's Tullamarine base, Mr Joyce said.
Last week Mr Joyce embarked on a two-day "roadshow", travelling to Geelong and Lorne where he was well received by business leaders, tourism operators and members of the community.
Importantly for the fledgling airline, 92 per cent of those surveyed said they would use Avalon again."It (Jetstar) has just had a huge effect for Geelong," the city's Mayor, Ed Coppe, said.
"Geelong is probably the most optimistic and forward looking now that is has been for years."
It's often said that Geelong comes alive when its Cats are winning and the airline has been quick to hitch its orange star to the football club.
Jetstar was the Cats home-game ball sponsor for the 2004 season. Geelong did not lose a single game when the airline's logo graced the ball.
Winning over the city and western region has been an important achievement, Mr Joyce said. According to the survey, a quarter of all passengers using Avalon have taken less than 30 minutes to drive there, and 78 per cent have driven for under an hour.
But there have been difficulties. Jetstar's policy of not allocating individual seat numbers and its insistence that passengers check in half an hour before flying, were initially unpopular.
"We should have handled that better," Mr Joyce said. "We didn't explain to people that those early check-ins are what allow us to have low fares."
The seat allocation policy has been softened, with passengers now boarding according to colour-coded sections, rather than on a first-come, first-served basis.
The airport also attracted criticism for the high cost of taxi travel to and from the city and Jetstar's research shows that only 3 per cent of passengers are arriving by taxi. While most people rated the airport as good or very good, most of those who considered it poor had arrived by taxi. "That is something that we know we still need to get right," Mr Joyce said.
Linfox Airports general manager Tim Anderson said the airport could have international flights to destinations such as New Zealand, Bali and Fiji within three years. But such services would most likely be charter flights.
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Avalon and Jetstar heading for the stars
By Dan Silkstone
Transport Reporter
November 3, 2004
It is five months this week since the first Jetstar aircraft took off from Avalon. In that time, more than 165,000 passengers have passed through Melbourne's newest passenger airport, at the rate of 1000 a day.
Since opening in May, the small terminal has been extended four times, with the fifth addition (a new bar) to be completed in the next few days.
Qantas offshoot Jetstar has maintained that it can grow the domestic aviation market and entice new passengers with its budget fares. The company says market research has proved it right, and it provides an interesting snapshot of who is using the former maintenance airstrip owned by trucking magnate Lindsay Fox.
According to the survey of 1500 Avalon passengers, one in 10 are flying for the first time. A further 37 per cent are infrequent travellers who fly only once or twice a year. Importantly for the fledgling airline, 92 per cent of those surveyed said they would use Avalon again.
"They are just delightful figures," Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said. "We are opening up new opportunities for a demographic that has not travelled much in the past."
Avalon is also poised to snare a lucrative new route to add to its six daily Sydney and Brisbane services. Jetstar has been in negotiations for several months to begin flights to Adelaide and an announcement is expected before Christmas.
Talks have been under way between the airline and management of Adelaide Airport. But Jetstar is also talking to the Federal Government and the RAAF about using Edinburgh Airbase, 20 kilometres south of Adelaide, near the town of Elizabeth.
Regardless of which Adelaide airfield the company signs with, services on the Melbourne-Adelaide route will be based at Avalon rather than at Jetstar's Tullamarine base, Mr Joyce said.
Last week Mr Joyce embarked on a two-day "roadshow", travelling to Geelong and Lorne where he was well received by business leaders, tourism operators and members of the community.
Importantly for the fledgling airline, 92 per cent of those surveyed said they would use Avalon again."It (Jetstar) has just had a huge effect for Geelong," the city's Mayor, Ed Coppe, said.
"Geelong is probably the most optimistic and forward looking now that is has been for years."
It's often said that Geelong comes alive when its Cats are winning and the airline has been quick to hitch its orange star to the football club.
Jetstar was the Cats home-game ball sponsor for the 2004 season. Geelong did not lose a single game when the airline's logo graced the ball.
Winning over the city and western region has been an important achievement, Mr Joyce said. According to the survey, a quarter of all passengers using Avalon have taken less than 30 minutes to drive there, and 78 per cent have driven for under an hour.
But there have been difficulties. Jetstar's policy of not allocating individual seat numbers and its insistence that passengers check in half an hour before flying, were initially unpopular.
"We should have handled that better," Mr Joyce said. "We didn't explain to people that those early check-ins are what allow us to have low fares."
The seat allocation policy has been softened, with passengers now boarding according to colour-coded sections, rather than on a first-come, first-served basis.
The airport also attracted criticism for the high cost of taxi travel to and from the city and Jetstar's research shows that only 3 per cent of passengers are arriving by taxi. While most people rated the airport as good or very good, most of those who considered it poor had arrived by taxi. "That is something that we know we still need to get right," Mr Joyce said.
Linfox Airports general manager Tim Anderson said the airport could have international flights to destinations such as New Zealand, Bali and Fiji within three years. But such services would most likely be charter flights.
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Mostly Harmless
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Erm, the other south? Bit like when recieving a dubious "turn left here" instruction from SWMBO, I confirm with the "And which left is that, dear?" procedure from the Family Procedure Manual, Chapter 3.
Seriously though, I wonder which route they'd flight plan? AV to AD/ED is obvious & harmless enuf, but whichever way they return they will be zooming through their "cross ARBEY at" colleagues or being indulged with the sort of direct tracking through departing routes the keep-em-on-track Nazis seem to have won the war against elsewhere. Golly that was a long sentence.
Seriously though, I wonder which route they'd flight plan? AV to AD/ED is obvious & harmless enuf, but whichever way they return they will be zooming through their "cross ARBEY at" colleagues or being indulged with the sort of direct tracking through departing routes the keep-em-on-track Nazis seem to have won the war against elsewhere. Golly that was a long sentence.
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"The seat allocation policy has been softened, with passengers now boarding according to colour-coded sections, rather than on a first-come, first-served basis."
Garbage! It's the same. Except now instead of saying "1-65", we say "Customers with a silver boarding pass..." Same same, but different.
"We are opening up new opportunities for a demographic that has not travelled much in the past." That is definately a PC way of putting it!
Garbage! It's the same. Except now instead of saying "1-65", we say "Customers with a silver boarding pass..." Same same, but different.
"We are opening up new opportunities for a demographic that has not travelled much in the past." That is definately a PC way of putting it!
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Bah humbug.
Most of the pax would have flown QF but have to fly jet* as QF pulled out of the unprofitable routes.
All they did was repaint the planes and lower the overheads eg labour cost, to compete with yours truly.
How long till all QF domestic is handed over to jet*? Dicko will have to look at new ways to make his bonus bigger now that he has had the sandwich makers come to the party with the new CC eba.
Most of the pax would have flown QF but have to fly jet* as QF pulled out of the unprofitable routes.
All they did was repaint the planes and lower the overheads eg labour cost, to compete with yours truly.
How long till all QF domestic is handed over to jet*? Dicko will have to look at new ways to make his bonus bigger now that he has had the sandwich makers come to the party with the new CC eba.
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wirgn blue
You say they are only successful because they took over routes from mainline QF ..
When did QF ever fly to Avalon ?? The whole context of this article was to show how successful the Avalon route has been ..
You say they are only successful because they took over routes from mainline QF ..
When did QF ever fly to Avalon ?? The whole context of this article was to show how successful the Avalon route has been ..
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Other routes from Avalon
I don't know why JQ don't transfer just one of their daily MEL-HBA and MEL-OOL services to AVV instead.
For example, there is a JQ MEL-HBA flight that leaves MEL at 8:05, then a QF MEL-HBA leaves 15 mins later at 8:20. Why not operate the JQ one from AVV, given the passenger another option. If they really have to go from tulla, they can fly QF. On the return, JQ have HBA-MEL flights at 11:05, 11:55 and 12:30. Surely not all of these have to goto MEL, why not change one to AVV. One of these services could then do a AVV-OOL-AVV or something to again, give another option. In HBAs case, it would further differentiate QF fom JQ, and open up another market linking Tasmania with Geelong and the Great Ocean Road etc.
I guess it would be too confusion for the average Joe Public though. I can imagine all over the news, Jetstar shuns Tasmania and the Gold Coast again by operating into a secondary airport!!! But if JQ could find a way to make it very clear and easy to understand that it was only one flight a day out of many, then I think it would be a good idea!
For example, there is a JQ MEL-HBA flight that leaves MEL at 8:05, then a QF MEL-HBA leaves 15 mins later at 8:20. Why not operate the JQ one from AVV, given the passenger another option. If they really have to go from tulla, they can fly QF. On the return, JQ have HBA-MEL flights at 11:05, 11:55 and 12:30. Surely not all of these have to goto MEL, why not change one to AVV. One of these services could then do a AVV-OOL-AVV or something to again, give another option. In HBAs case, it would further differentiate QF fom JQ, and open up another market linking Tasmania with Geelong and the Great Ocean Road etc.
I guess it would be too confusion for the average Joe Public though. I can imagine all over the news, Jetstar shuns Tasmania and the Gold Coast again by operating into a secondary airport!!! But if JQ could find a way to make it very clear and easy to understand that it was only one flight a day out of many, then I think it would be a good idea!
