Jetstar NZ
 

Have heard rumour Jetstar NZ Domestic announcement today any ideas?

Heard it is significant, NZ Prime Minister and Transport Minister along with QF CEO Alan Joyce in attendance!

Announcement due at 1400 18 June 2015 according to the local news station.

Regional shake-up: Jetstar to break Air New Zealand's domestic stranglehold - Business - NZ Herald News




5 Q-300 apparently, still confirming route network with them

Alan mentioned to be operated by QLINK (Eastern) but branded as JQ. Similar operation in the USA with the majors.

Jetstar branded aircraft and interiors. Interior to be revamped to JQ style.

"The low cost carrier will use a fleet of five 50-seat Bombardier Q300 turbo-prop aircraft to fly to at least four regional centres initially.

Those cities being considered include Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Napier and Palmerston North in the North Island and Nelson and Invercargill in the South Island."

Due to start in December.

Do they have enough Q300s for these shenanigans?

EDIT: just read the other thread, I now understand...

In negotiation with regional centres!

That is code for "how much will you subsidise our entry into your airport with cheap leases and landing fees".

Big question is how they will crew them..


Are they going to be crew seconded to NZ on Eastern terms, or are they going to be employed in NZ with NZ terms which will be less than Eastern?


One way means this expansion into regional NZ will fail.. The other could mean the end of the current terms in Australia..

Last time Ansett/Qantas tried this it wasn't until the creditors report came out that it was obvious no one running a turboprop against AirNZ has ever made any money doing it. The accountants spun the numbers for on-travel pax to make the turboprop operation look better than it was.
Good luck and hope there's lots of new jobs but unless the main trunk is happy subsidizing the turboprops, this venture is doomed.
There isn't the population increase outside of Auckland over the past decade to change the numbers much from 10 yrs ago.
But , as I said, good luck anyway. If you're unconvinced, have a look at the creditors report for AnsettNZ/Qantas NZ and crunch the numbers.

Ewan Wilson must be spewing ... headshot by the big boys AGAIN, before he's even got off the ground this time :{

And Tasmania?! Qantas pulling jets out of TAS again?

Joyce must own shares in virgin or something :ok:

Jetstar operating turboprops on NZ wages and conditions??? Guess it won't take so long for pilots in this part of the world to be on food stamps!

All the 300s are operated by Eastern on the register, and all the 400s are operated by Sunstate.

It's local terms so possibly a new company using the Aus AOC.

QLink pilots may be able to go on LWOP to NZ "subject to crewing requirements in Aus" so read that as a no expect for a few token ppl.

Not that there'll be a big rush of ppl to head to NZ except for a few homesock kiwis.

I am sure AirNZ top management will scratch their heads when looking at their share price drop of almost 10% after the announcement.

Or for a few of us that are still banging around in the piston pounders!

Almost...

Qlink AOC and operation, flown by pilots employed by a new local entity (separate to both Eastern and Jetstar NZ), managed by Jetstar NZ.

Clear as mud.

I reckon good on them for giving it a stab.

Years and Years have gone where AirNz have been the only domestic carrier flying regional routes and as a result have stabbed the residents in the back with hefty fares. Now with Q300 of Jetstar NZ coming in it is really going to shake up the market.

Just shows you that the Air NZ investors are getting itchy with a 10% drop in the share price today and I wonder how long it will go on for, with American Airlines coming in and providing a better service than whats offered is really going to knock AirNz.

Its about time they have had some competetion - the likes of Qantas or Virgin Australia would love to be a sole operation airline

You're joking aren't you?!? Better service than AirNZ!?

American Airlines ranks in the bottom half of 15 U.S. airlines, and have done for the last few years. How do you think that is better than AirNZ's 2 time winner of the Skytrax Airline of the Year awards, and multitude of other international awards, the most recent being a clean sweep of the 2015 Premium Economy awards this week?

Your statement is more ludicrous than the 747 on a treadmill theory.....

I'm interested in what the pay will be like, I'd guess it will be about 85% of what an Air Nelson pilot gets for the same rank.
For that matter, what is the pay range for F/O's and Captains at Air Nelson?

Jetstar regionals in Oz next after this experiment...:hmm:

Gifted Q300s from Qantaslink and free Check and Training from them as well. Along with interest-free loans written off after 12 months. Jetstar NZ set the trend for all the JQ franchises in 2011 by being given a $15 million loan from Jetconnect and then having it written off after twelve months and booking the profit as the interest it would of paid if it had. Another winner!

Sorry but isn't this a good thing? Expansion in NZ means more jobs for local pilots. Cheap fares for locals to regional ports. Competition for Air NZ will bring down their prices.

I fail to see how this is anything other than a good thing.

Not everything is doom and gloom people.

they grew the nz market with the 320's enabling more bogans and students to fly more regularly. fleet size has since stalled, despite the amazing operation.

the dash8's will do exactly the same. another money soak for the qantas machine

contract will be horrific and just a paid job search, just like the 320 job has been for many.

hopefully some good news for any ex vincent guys still out there.

200K for Captain/120K for F/O (NZD) on the A320 is hardly "horrific".

i said has been, not is. dunno about nowadays

how much overtime you need for 200k?

So where does one apply? (to find out if it is horrific or merely average to poor...)

No overtime last year and my mate took home 195k with his ZQN supplement. Not exactly a bad contract.

This will be good for NZ, it will mean some recruitment onto a pretty good aircraft for a group of pilots who would be consigned to GA for the next few years. Jetstar NZ may not be a career airline but it has given 'lot's' of young guys and girls their start in aviation. Not everyone can work for AIR NZ mainline.

take home 195k is like 260k gross? my word. that is doing well.

agreed. more turbo prop jobs arent necessarily a bad thing.

Whats the point of talking about Jetstar's jet salaries? The Q300 crew will be far less paid! To gain any ground in this (about to commence) price battle Jetstar will only pay Air Nelson rates, if that!

Do you think there will be more A320s in NZ to complement the increased jetstar traffic (connections etc) ?


Will be interesting to see where they get their pilots. There is a fair bit of movement slated in the next 18 months,- Air NZ/link, Jetconnect virgin, possibly jetstar jet etc...


F/Os will probably never be difficult, they will only have to lower minimum entry requirements, plus there are plenty of Aussie pilots willing to come over and swamp the NZ industry if need be. But captains ?
Sure if they based in the regions such as Napier there may be a few from Air Nelson due their base closures but apart from that..... ?


I guess its all about the money and I don't count on there being plenty

What's the pay range at Air Nelson? I'd be willing to bet it will be a good shot short of their pay.

Ask Grant Kerr what the pay and conditions are like at Air NSN... Pretty sure he'll remember.

Who's Grant Kerr?

Former head of Air Nelson ( and I think Eagle before that? ), now the head of Jet* NZ.

Sorry, it was a bad choice of words. His Gross pay was $195k for the last tax year and he just emailed and said in that 12 months he did 496 hours. So sounds pretty good to me.

As to the question of where they will get their Captains, I imagine this will bring a smile to the face of quite a few Kiwis currently flying similar equipment for PX.

A pity there won't be a Nelson base........

Unless they are already on B scale in PX the pay cut will be significant.

But I guess there are quite a number of Air Nelson F/O ready and keen for a command upgrade.

I would be surprised if the AOC holders risk mitigation tool spat out a result of " very low risk" when the input was ' lets hire first officers and upgrade them to Captain at the recruitment stage'.
With that in mind I'd wager that all of the Captains recruited will have previously held part 121 commands and most probably on the Dash.