Jetstar takes off with three new trans Tasman routes

Jetstar's inaugural flight between Melbourne-Auckland takes off today, while flights from Queenstown to Melbourne and the Gold Coast will start from 16 December and 17 December respectively.

The new A320 services represents a boost in Jetstar's low fare trans Tasman flying by almost 20 per cent, with an additional 3,100 seats each week on the large Australia & New Zealand market.

Jetstar Chief Commercial Officer David Koczkar said Jetstar was committed to offering the lowest fares for travel across the Tasman.

"These two new trans Tasman services, together with the launch of direct long haul A330 Melbourne-Singapore daily services later this week, represent the largest single injection of international growth to Melbourne in Jetstar's six years of operation," Mr Koczkar said.

Jetstar's every day one way web fares at Jetstar.com start from A$169 Melbourne-Auckland and from A$199 Queenstown-Gold Coast and Melbourne-Queenstown, up to 30 per cent lower than competitors operating on the same or similar routes.

"Jetstar will be the only airline to offer year-round services between Melbourne and Queenstown, a destination famous for its outdoor activities and attractions in both summer and winter," Mr Koczkar said.

"With the introduction of these new services, Jetstar will now offer a total of 49 trans Tasman weekly return flights between Australia and New Zealand, with our value for money fares backed up by the Jetstar Price Beat Guarantee* whereby we will beat our competitors by 10 per cent.

"We are experiencing strong demand for our trans Tasman services and we look forward to stimulating further growth. We will pursue future opportunities to build upon our existing services for the benefit of the tourism industry and broader economies and communities of each country."

Jetstar's trans Tasman network will further expand to a total of 10 routes with first-time international flights to commence between Auckland-Cairns from April 2011.