Summary
- Jetstar, Australia’s largest low-cost carrier, has recovered from supply chain issues attributable to bird and lightning strikes, and debris on runways.
- Jetstar’s on-time performance and reliability are back to pre-pandemic levels, allowing for brand new expansion opportunities.
- The airline has launched nonstop flights from Brisbane to Seoul and Osaka, aiming to satisfy strong demand for international travel to and from southeast Queensland.
Australia’s largest low-cost carrier, Jetstar has emerged from the pandemic in fine condition and has shrugged off the provision chain issues that saw a variety of its aircraft grounded and waiting for parts after encountering bird and lightning strikes or damage from debris left on a runway.
Jetstar is prepared for more expansion
Jetstar battled through those setbacks and has returned to its best, reporting on-time performance and reliability numbers near pre-pandemic levels and in step with its competitors within the Australian market. With demand staying consistently high in Australia, Jetstar is searching for recent opportunities and yesterday it teamed up with Brisbane Airport to launch nonstop flights from Brisbane to Seoul in South Korea.
Photo: John Mackintosh / Shutterstock
The expansion is ready to proceed today when it launches the Brisbane to Osaka path to create the one direct service between the 2 cities. Jetstar will use the 787-8s to operate three return flights weekly between Brisbane and Seoul and 4 weekly return flights to Osaka. This may occasionally be only a coincidence, but this week, each routes can be operated by the identical Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, although the frequency of the routes could see a 787 permanently based in Brisbane running flights to Seoul and Osaka.
Photo: Jetstar
The 2 routes dovetail nicely with the Osaka flights departing on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and the Seoul service on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully said that Jetstar is seeing strong demand for international travel to and from southeast Queensland, adding:
“We anticipate these two exciting recent routes can be popular in each directions, with inbound visitation from South Korea and Japan expected to inject hundreds of thousands of dollars into the sunshine state’s economy. For Queenslanders, greater than 240,000 low fares seats across the 2 recent routes will give them the possibility to take off more and explore these incredibly beautiful cities.”
On Thursday Jetstar flight JQ53 departed Brisbane Airport (BNE) at 12:01 on a 9:14 hour flight that saw it land at Seoul Incheon International (ICN) at 20:14. Jetstar used a 2015 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, registration VH-VKK and MSN 36237, that has recently been flying between Sydney and Seoul and to other international destinations including Honolulu (HNL), Ho Chi Minh City (SGN), Phuket (HKT) and Bali Denpasar (DPS).
Photo: Ryan Fletcher | Shutterstock
Brisbane Airport CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff was predictably thrilled about launching two recent international routes on consecutive days and the impact that may have on local tourism and jobs.
“These flights further solidify our thriving partnership with Jetstar, contributing to probably the most substantial boost in reasonably priced fares for Queenslanders and our valued visitors. BNE now has direct connections to 29 international destinations and 61 airports in Australia.”
Jetstar and Brisbane Airport have formed a detailed partnership over the previous few months, and aside from these recent routes to South Korea and Japan, the low-cost carrier has added more international capability from southeast Queensland. Jetstar has delivered recent services between Brisbane and Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) and added more low-cost seat capability to routes from Brisbane to Bali and Auckland.
Visitation from South Korea to Australia is booming and the most recent government figures show it’s up by 40% to around 56,000 travelers annually. Queensland and Brisbane have been very fashionable markets for Japanese visitors for a long time and today it’s the state’s second-largest source market value AU$146.5 million ($99 million) a yr in overnight visitor expenditure.
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