Jetstar adds more seats as it lays down challenge to Air New Zealand

Jetstar says it will return to pre-Covid capacity in NZ next year. Photo / Grant Bradley

Jetstar will return to pre-Covid capacity in New Zealand with more seats on domestic and transtasman flights. The Qantas subsidiary’s A320 fleet isn’t affected by the same Pratt & Whitney engine issue as rival Air New Zealand faces into next year and beyond.

Jetstar will boost its New Zealand flying in what it says is a response to increased demand for low-fare travel. It has also been boosting staff numbers as it faces its busiest summer for four years.

The airline will start increasing services from March 31 2024, with its New Zealand domestic network scheduled to reach up to 100 per cent of pre-Covid levels from mid-year, and its transtasman network operating almost 40 per cent higher than in 2019.

It will add 150,000 seats.

The expansion comes as Air New Zealand faces disruption to Pacific Islands, transtasman and some domestic flights as maintenance problems with its A321 Pratt & Whitney engines bites. Jetstar planes have IAE V2500 engines that aren’t affected by the same issue.

Air NZ says up to five A321s could be on the ground at any one time because of the P&W problem. Some ATRs would do some more flying on domestic routes.

It is estimated about 329,000 passengers were on the affected Air New Zealand flights.

This week Jetstar Jetstar launched more than 40,000 discounted one-way fares across 16 domestic and transtasman routes.

Domestic fares started at $30 and transtasman fares started at $135.

Changes to Jetstar’s schedule next year means it will fly the following services:

Domestic:

· Auckland to Christchurch up to 39 return services per week

· Auckland to Wellington up to 30 return services per week

· Auckland to Queenstown up to 21 return services per week

· Auckland to Dunedin up to 7 return services per week

· Christchurch to Wellington up to 14 return services per week

International:

· Auckland to Melbourne up to 13 return services per week

· Auckland to Gold Coast up to 13 return services per week

· Auckland to Brisbane up to 11 return services per week

· Auckland to Sydney up to 9 return services per week

· Christchurch to Melbourne up to 5 return services per week

The airline’s head of NZ Shelley Musk said it was a very important milestone.

“This significant capacity boost comes off the back of increased demand across our domestic and international networks this year, as Kiwis seek out more choice and affordable travel options,” she said.

“As we head in 2024, we’re committed to continuing to improve our operations and to be the low fares leader that New Zealanders can rely on.”

As part of efforts to improve reliability, Jetstar has also recruited more than 120 frontline staff over the past 12 months throughout New Zealand, rostered more staff on standby and ensured spare aircraft will be available in the event of unplanned disruptions over the Christmas peak

Jetstar is now gearing up for its busiest Christmas and New Year peak in New Zealand since 2019.

More than 180,000 people are expected to fly on it – a 5 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

The single busiest day for travel will be Saturday, December 23.

The airline’s most popular New Zealand domestic route over Christmas and New Year is Auckland to Christchurch and its most popular transtasman route is Auckland to Gold Coast.

Jetstar says the airline is heading into the busy holiday period in a strong position, achieving an on-time performance of 81.9 per cent in New Zealand in November – its best result so far this year.

Last month its New Zealand domestic cancellation rate also dropped to 1.1 per cent – its lowest level in 2023.

On-time performance on the transtasman network reached 77.8 per cent in November, which was the strongest month since Covid, with a cancellation rate of 2.7 per cent.