NZ on Jetstar radar
 

AAP

NZ on Jetstar radar
February 8, 2005 - 8:10PM

Qantas' low-cost offshoot Jetstar has named New Zealand as a potential first port of call for its international service.

The Australian airline launched Jetstar two years ago as a budget rival to Virgin Blue, which has rapidly grown across Australia and now flies the Tasman as Pacific Blue.

Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce told the Australian Financial Review that while the immediate focus was expanding its Australian services, the airline planned to be flying international routes by early 2007.

A company spokesman said the airline was still in its formative stages, having yet to receive its full complement of 23 Airbus A320 jets.

Jetstar flies 177 passengers in each of its A320s, compared to Air New Zealand's 146 (in both business and economy class). Flying out of secondary airports and catering to the leisure market, Jetstar is similar to Air NZ's Freedom wing.

With a different brand and focus on internet sales, it tries not to "cannibalise" high-paying business passengers from the Qantas brand. Flying internationally, it could prove a tough competitor to both Pacific Blue and Air NZ.

Pacific Blue is about to expand its services, finally adding flights out of Auckland. In December it signed a deal to take over the international flights of the Samoa Government-owned carrier, Polynesian Airlines.

Air NZ, last year stymied in its attempts to form a price and schedule-fixing arrangement with Qantas, has been talking with the Australian airline about ways of co-operating that would not anger competition authorities.

Any move by Jetstar on the Tasman could be a sign that Qantas has put the friendship talks on hold and is prepared to compete vigorously against Air NZ.

Supporting its claim for an alliance, Air NZ initially said Qantas could destroy it in a war of attrition.

© 2005 AAP
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suprise
 

Load up mainline with cost, fiddle the numbers so J* looks good

Then send it to all the destinations QF currently serves. As a legacy carrier its not cost effective, so after we pull out of Frankfurt will auckland be the next port Geoffrey?

Shame lil alan hasn't kept abreast of what Ryan air is doing....it ain't so good but Dame and GD will parachute out before those chickens come home to roost:ugh:

Hit the nail on the head !!!.......... the backdoor attempts to slowly remove more mainline Q routes continues. What a bright future this once, (very distant in the past mind you) great carrier has. A True blue CEO......... not!

Jetscar may well take on NZ (and possibly Jetconnect) but Emirates will eat them alive.

EWL

I thought the Jetstar A320s & 717's dont have life rafts, would that not make the trip a little difficult ?

:hmm:

Jetstar on the Tasman and internally NZ will be operated by Jetconnect, they are still the cheapest of all subsidiaries.

The current QF product offered domestically is not much above what a "value based BYO" airline currently offers. This is creating some brand confusion coupled with the NZ culture of "anti 5 star" would indicate that the BYO model would work well internally, and expands and continues the wagons surrounding the virgin blue empire.

The next question is who will QF code share with around the Pacific, now that Poly are in bed with the blues?

Just what we need.

More competition across the Tasman. Why didn't I think of it before now.

Yes, what is it about New Zealand? Just how many punters are there wanting to go back and forth??

The bloody place is barely wide enough to land on.

K

Ahh Kanga as an Aussie you still havn't figured it yet "its the quality that counts, not the quantity".
:ok:

Hardly likely to be additional capacity - more likely to be a reduction in existing QF main services.

Perhaps all Trans-Tasman flights should have half the seats removed to make room for sheep troughs at each one.

;) K

Ahhh the obligatory sheep joke!

Note that the AIPA have been very quiet on the matter.
What a useless, so called representative organisation.

Sorry Sunfish. It wasn't meant to be a shallow flogging of the tired old sheep jokes. It's just that there's only so many people in NZ, so I couldn't work out who else was going to fill the seats.


K