Jetstar to use Dreamliner on transtasman routes

The 787 carries 335 passengers, with 21 business class seats and 314 seats in economy.

Jetstar will use a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on transtasman services from Auckland during summer and has added more domestic flights as it expands in this country.

The Dreamliner has been scheduled to fly from Melbourne to Auckland and from Auckland to Sydney every Monday for seven weeks from the middle of December to the end of January.

The 787 carries 335 passengers, with 21 business class seats and 314 seats in economy.

Additional Airbus A320 capacity from Australia to Queenstown has been added for the holiday season with more than 10,000 extra seats between December and January compared with last year.

The low cost airline says it will also start three times a week Wellington-Dunedin services from late October.

Jetstar head of New Zealand, Grant Kerr, said customers had regularly requested the airline add a Wellington-Dunedin service to bring more competition to the route.

Wellington Airport said the new service will add 56,000 seats to Wellington's domestic market and provide onward connections to Australia.

Kerr said more than 5000 extra seats would also be added over summer between Christchurch and Melbourne.

The airline was also making progress with plans to use QantasLink Q300 turbo-prop aircraft to serve the regions.

"We've now visited all the regions under consideration and we've had a very positive response from everyone we've spoken to about our new services," Kerr said.

The airline used the 787 on the Auckland-Melbourne route for a month at the beginning of last year.