Jetstar announces domestic NZ operations
 

A media release this morning is announcing that from mid this year, Jetstar will operate five domestic New Zealand routes with a fleet
of A320s.

The route schedule is as follows:

· Auckland – Christchurch* (6 times daily)
· Auckland – Wellington* (3 times daily)
· Auckland – Queenstown* (Daily)
· Christchurch – Wellington* (Daily)
· Christchurch – Queenstown* (Daily)

Qantas will cease operating its domestic New Zealand network on Tuesday 9 June 2009.

Jetconnect will concentrate on trans Tasman services with 737 NG's.

Wait there is more. Spotters say the A380s due in May will push a later model 744 onto the Auckland-LA route after being no longer required on the Sydney flights.

Bite of aggro on Plane Talking too.

Qantas ‘invades’ NZ with Jetstar - Plane Talking

Invasion?
 

Can someone explain to me how it is an "Invasion" by jetstar. This Plane talk idiot is a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

Am I wrong to see this as a "rebranding" exercise of Qantas within NZ rather than an Invasion?

If Jitconnict operate Trans Tasman with 737 NG's one would ask " where will these NG's come from?"

As QF shorthaul is being gradually replaced by Jetstar, and the mining industry in WA looking a little sick at present, QF may have some NG's surplus to requirements.

All those brand new QF Captains and F/O's trained up on the 737 in a burst of corporate enthusiasm may be surplus to requirements. Especially if they can be replaced by others across the Tasman on truck drivers wages.

Interesting times coming up.

It really surprised me that the Qantas pilot group sat back and let Jetconnect have the Tasman routes back in 2001/2. This is just a continuation of that...no-one is being "replaced by others across the Tasman on truck-driver's wages" Don't JC already do a lot of the trans-Tasman flights? Fleet replacement with NGs was known about months ago.
What concerns me is whether JC will now be overstaffed. No domestic flying, but a few more Tassies (mainly out of Auckland) could mean a pilot surplus. A lot of the guys there are former colleagues of mine. I'd hate to see them lose their jobs (again)
So now QF has 3 pilot groups in NZ...JC, Jetstar NZ and the Jetstar Aus CHC base. Gee, that makes sense!

DC -

I would have thought this will affect the QF mainline 737 pilots more than anyone else. It seems that they may lose all trans Tasman flying. I wonder just how close we are to see QF mainline announce a surplus of pilots, especially as JQ Australia is continually increasing it's domestic operations.

If JetConnect has a surplus of pilots as a result of this restructure, I'm sure they would have first crack at the increasing number of JQ NZ jobs that this announcement implies. They will be very happy when they have to fork out over $30,000 for the pleasure of flying an A320.

Qantas is cleverly manipulating its domestic and NZ operation into a much lower cost base with the introduction of JQ NZ domestic and increased JetConnect Tasman operations.

AIPA may have a real industrial issue on it's hands if a worst case scenario emerges with Qantas pilots facing redundancies. I guess the way out is to transfer redundant pilots into Jetstar along the lines of the MOU.

What salary reduction will they have to suffer?

Pity about Rotorua losing the jet services, but otherwise, not a major thing really. Will be good for the places Jetstar is serving - more flights, more airlines, more competition, lower fares, etc.

Q300Pity about Rotorua losing the jet services, but otherwise, not a major thing really. Will be good for the places Jetstar is serving - more flights, more airlines, more competition, lower fares, etc.


More flights, more airlines,lower fares, etc!

Cobblers!
Yes lower airfares better competition for awhile until the weakest succumb. Survival of the deepest pockets.
Same thing happened with deregulation in the States.
A flurry of new start ups, the incumbents slashed cost structures to match, a series of acquisitions and mergers, the weakest went to the wall and in the end you end up paying the same or more with less service to boot!
Gotta luv deregulation!:ugh:

Ho Hum
 

Here we go again. A little country who any expert will tell is capable of supporting 1 to 1 1/2 airlines has another arrive - although probably to replace the crap service QF has supplied for some years. Any one local should be up in arms. Only fly the main trunk and not the regionals. not a matter of reducing fares but a case of forcing them up on the regional routes. It would indeed be a more level playing field if Deathstar were forced to fly some regional routes as part of getting approval but I guess there is no chance of that! But then QF has never played that game.

I think the travelling public are waking up to the downsides of booking with someone like Qantas NZ or Pac Blue and now Jetstar. They don't have the capacity or the network.

Nearly everyone knows of issues that they or friends have had when a flight gets delayed or cancelled due weather or aircraft unserviceabilities and then being able to be re booked at a reasonable time. Stories of days lost at work etc are not uncommon.

The other issue of missing your connecting flight with another airline because they made you late. Not their problem you have another flight to catch.

Then you have Pac Blue who won't even refund your money if they cancel the flight on you.

A lot of people are getting gun shy of these carriers, I'm sure Jetstar will suffer as a result.

Nothing more than a rebranding, and hardly a surprise.

embarrassing to see the media in a "flat spin" over the Jetstar announcment, makes me wonder what the kick-back.

So.. here is NZ, with the population about the same as the greater Sydney Area, with THREE domestic airlines...

Fair enough our country is separated by a little bit of water between the islands, but do we have the population base to have all three survive? Or are the Aussies just using their NZ operations to wipe away their profits and reduce the tax bill?

What are all the jitconnect crews going to do for work??? Surely they wont need all the current pilots to fly the new schedule??? And being 737 drivers ( ie, no scarebus rating) cant just slip across to the new mob either??? Interesting times ahead again in enzed......

It will certainly lead to lower prices in the short term... Air NZ is already responding with temporary $28 fares to certain JQ domestic destinations. Check Grab a Seat and see for yourself.

But, it will only last until the market settles. And then, until one of them dies. Fact of the matter is, even our main trunk route cannot realistically support more than 2 airlines indefinitely but have them all be profitable on the route, with reasonable fares. Something has to give, and it will probably be one of the airlines.

NZ cannot support so many airlines - QF Jetconnect has slowly killed off its network and this finishes it entirely. Jetstar replaces some but not all of that network. Origin Pacific is dead. That leaves Air NZ and Pac Blue - one of whom is a government supported monopoly carrier and the other who is new to the domestic game.

You cannot seriously only do trunk routes and expect to stay around long in an oversaturated market. You need regionals to survive - and even then, Koru will kill you eventually.

Media reaction has been plain ridiculous. Leading story on the radio and the 6 o clock bulletins, plus God only knows how much internet coverage.

Will be nice to see a change from Jitconnict and their "schedule", but JQ is just lipstick on a pig. Not expecting it to be much better to be honest.

coincidence QF cut dom flying in NZ and Jetstar start?!

Ummmmmm NO!

AirNZ will be sorry it disbanded Freedom Air

Freedom was closed down because it was no longer cost competative with the main airline, and could not compete with the product that EK had on the Tasman at a lower price.

Zeal320 is freedom air, it was 'merged' with Air New Zealand on the A320's providing a valuable cost decrease in costs operating as a full yield airline under the Air New Zealand...

Er Zeal320 was the operating company that operated the A320s for both Air NZ and Freedom. Designed so that Air NZ crews would work for Freedom money - basically to save costs. With the Freedom brand having been dissolved, there was really no need for a separate company so Zeal320 is no longer (or will be soon).

Freedom was closed because there was no real need for a duplicate company. Freedom had also served its purpose - remember Freedom was a Mount Cook thingo designed to kill Kiwi.

By the way, everyone knows that Jetstar replacing Jetconnect was no coincidence - it was meant to be. Qantas was not doing well over in NZ really. There's not a lot of difference.

Granted Freedom was set up to get rid of Kiwi and was the leader and a very succesfull LCC in this part of the world.
I suggest that Zeal320 is no where near a LCC it is Air Nz in disguise with all the associated costs which are hidden.
We will see as time moves on. Jetstar will certainly give AirNz a run for there money.
AirNz have alienated Regional New Zealand by withdrawing of International services which they engineered by shutting down Freedom and increasing fares to a level above those from AKL/WLG/CHC, their excuse iwas competition from AKL/WLG/CHC from other carriers charging low fares. No wonder because they replaced Freedom with a full service model.
Jetstar is a full LCC model and works well.
I Know JetStar will no be serving Regional New Zealand but you can now drive from Regional centers and have a choice as in Australia and get discounted fares.

Was talking today to 2 businessmen who book and fly Qantas for NZ domestic flights (due to international QF relationship) They are NOT happy that flights they have booked in advance will now be operated by Jetstar. They have already experienced this with Jetstar taking over the CHC Tasman routes, and it wasn't a good experience for them.
Whilst Jetconnect wasn't especially profitable, they still had some business contracts and loyalty for being "full service". Now that is gone, they will probably lose their high yield business traffic to Air NZ...domestically and Internationally.
As for Freedom/Zeal...it is no more. The A320 operation AOC is being transferred back to Air NZ and the separate management team disbanded. It was never going to work as they took the (relatively) low cost Freedom operation, and changed all it's cheaper supplier contracts (ground handling/catering/engineering etc) over to the same ones as Air NZ! Only thing cheaper in the end was the Flight Attendants. Waste of money.
Air NZ think they can compete on the domestic and Tasman/Pacific routes with their current product...they don't need to go absolute lowest common denominator.
Personally I hope they are right.

Pianokeys

Not sure where you got that gem from. There is the odd one ore two uninformed pratts making noises at the moment but to say that regional New Zealand has been alienated is stretching the truth.

You have always been able to drive. Nothings changed here, compared to OZ far more New Zealanders prefer to fly than drive so I don't see your comparision with OZ as being valid.

Whatever happened to the freedom pilots??? Did they keep cmds etc when they went back to Air NZ??? How did the intergration go with the 2 groups???

here here 27/09, finally a sensible post

pianokeys
 

Not correct mate.

That Freedom was pulled from PMR, and the reduced/loss of Tasman flying out of HLZ and DUD is simply because the NZ public did not support it enough. The AirNZ group persevered with and subsequently lost a lot of money from these ports with what had in effect become "spoiler" flights to discourage other carriers. Freedom/Zeal management did a lot of lobbying and talking to the regional councils and business leaders for a long time with the "use it or lose it" message. I know they struggled long and hard the decision to pull out and possibly leave a gap for others.

Remember that Ozjet jumped at the chance to go to PMR. I dont think even one flight was made.

If you had checked the websites (NZ, SJ and others) prior to March last year, you would have seen that Freedom was often not that competitive compared to some of the fares available from the main centres.

Virtually all of Freedoms custom was very price sensitive holidaymakers. Due to Emerites and others, the number of empty seats crossing the Tasman has been staggering and something simply had to give.

There are quite a few other significant reasons also, but your assertions above are not quite right.

Geez ZUBE!
Shall i resign my command now or should i wait?
I mean, i know Jetstar is going to save the world and all of that, but isn't a cheap kiwi pilot as much a threat to our Jetstar heroes as it is to QF?

1.Mostly they took jobs within AirNZ as S/O's or F/O's. Some buggered off.
2. No.
3. Depends who you ask. The answer to 2. above is some of it.

Bingo!!!!!!!

Well guys time will tell

Air NZ will stay, after they destroy Pac blue and send them home. Jet star will operate against Air NZ, and both will survive. Jet connect will service the Tasman. Whats the big fuss, Apart from nobody earning enough money for what we do.:ugh:For those pilots that lose there job at JC, i hope you don't have to pay for a type rating on the airbus...this is the sort of S&^T we have to stand up and say no to..:mad:. A few topics in one post i know...but.

Here's what is being reported in today's Airline Transport World - my emphasis in bold.


Qantas shifts NZ flying to Jetstar as it continues restructuring


Qantas Group will restructure its New Zealand and China networks as it strives to remain profitable, and CEO Alan Joyce denied speculation that the moves are a portent of things to come on its Australian operations.

From June 10, Qantas flights on New Zealand domestic routes will be taken over by its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar Airways. In addition, the Australian national carrier will quit its Sydney-Beijing (on April 17) and Melbourne-Shanghai (March 31) flights, flagging the weakness in China's economy. The restructure comes two weeks after Qantas Group reported a 65% plunge in its half-year profit to A$216 million ($140.5 million) (ATWOnline, Feb. 5).

The New Zealand changes are seen by some as the start of a trend that will see Jetstar replace the mainline on an increasing number of routes. Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation CEO Derek Sadubin told ATWOnline that, "Without a doubt, Jetstar will take over more Qantas routes. We have already seen evidence of this recently with the Adelaide to Cairns route and you will also see Jetstar operating more regional short-haul international routes."

Joyce told this website yesterday that Jetstar will "grow aggressively but in harmony" with Qantas. He said the Australian and New Zealand operations are not comparable and denied any wholesale takeover of Qantas Australian domestic trunk routes by Jetstar. "Australia is very different and we are making money [on Qantas routes] even in current times. Certainly there will be some more tweaks," he said.

The restructuring also includes the retirement of QF's eight 130-seat 737-300s/-400s, which will reduce capacity by an additional 1%, according to Joyce. Qantas still will operate flights between Australia and New Zealand, occasionally in competition with Jetstar, and will upgrade to new 737-800s with seatback IFE throughout. Jetstar's New Zealand network will comprise Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown. Rotorua no longer will be served.

Late last year, Qantas announced a series of cuts that effectively grounded 10 aircraft (ATWOnline, Nov. 26, 2008). "Instead of growing international routes by 5% we are contracting by 8%," Joyce said.

A Jetstar spokesperson said yesterday that with costs 40% below QF's, the subsidiary is in better shape to respond to market demands for lower fares in difficult economic times.

by Geoffrey Thomas

The funny thing about this, is that while scum* pay peanuts to their NZ pilits, see the site for terms and conditions, the Qantas brand sinks and Darths plan comes to fore.

The rot is setting in over both sides of the Tasman and no body will be the better of it.

Pax Vobiscum.

Qantas pilots undercut by Jetstar Oz, Jetstar Oz being under cut shortly by Jetstar NZ. Crikey if you don't all work together the race is already won by management to slide the salary into the toilet!!!

Wait until the troops figure out that this op in NZ is where the 787's will be going!!!!!

The pot is calling the kettle black...:rolleyes:

Quote:
Whatever happened to the freedom pilots??? Did they keep cmds etc when they went back to Air NZ??? How did the intergration go with the 2 groups???

1.Mostly they took jobs within AirNZ as S/O's or F/O's. Some buggered off.
2. No.
3. Depends who you ask. The answer to 2. above is some of it.


Freedom pilots brokered a deal whereby they were integrated into Air NZ with positions according to seniority, meaning all Captains lost their commands BUT, they retained Airbus command salaries for a period of up to 6 years (by which time, who knows what will be going on!)
Some F/Os remained on the 'Bus on Air NZ terms and conditions, some took S/Os jobs (but on Airbus money)
Some took leave without pay (offered for up to 5 years) but very few actually "buggered off" ie resigned. In fact I can only think of one.
Overall, it was a surprisingly generous deal.

So if it was a reasonable deal, I cant imagine to many of them jumping to pornstar nz!!!! ?????

Can anyone explain how Jetstar NZ can be cheaper than JitConnect (apart from the cost of the inflight service). The wages paid for all JitConnect staff , Pilots, Cabin Crew, Engineers, Ramp & Check-in staff etc all being pathetically low. Is Jetstar going to offer even less?

You've used that bait to stir things up too many times - you won't get any bites

I'm just guessing here;
1/ AirNZ would be charging JC top dollar for ground services
2/ JC have two classes instead of one
3/ Older aircraft requiring more maintenance
4/ Basic economies of scale WRT management and ops teams.
5/ No revenue (however small) from in flight and baggage service.