Major announcements:
- Jetconnect will cease domestic New Zealand services
- Qantas Group will cancel all Rotorua services
- Jetstar to begin domestic NZ ops to CHC/WLG/AKL/ZQN
- Cancellation of weekend BNE-WLG services
- Improved timing of daily AKL-LAX service, to connect with QF’s daily JFK flight
- MEL-AKL increased to thrice daily
- SYD-AKL increased from four to five daily – mixture of 73H and 763
- SYD-PVG increasing to daily eff 31 March (already announced)
- MEL-PVG being scrapped eff late March (already announced)
- SYD-PEK being permanently cancelled eff 17 April 2009
- SYD-BOM will cease operating nonstop, although Qantas will introduce a new service from Sydney to Singapore then on the Mumbai
All 733s will be retired from the Jetconnect fleet, with a another 734 to join the fleet shortly, then the 73Hs later in the year.
Jetstar NZ:
(From 10 June)
- AKL/CHC - 5x daily
- AKL/WLG - 2x daily
- AKL/ZQN - Daily
- CHC/WLG - no services
- CHC/ZQN - Daily
(From 24 June)
- AKL/CHC - 6x daily
- AKL/WLG - 3x daily
- AKL/ZQN - Daily
- CHC/WLG - Daily
- CHC/ZQN - Daily
and some exciting news and confirmation of what we have all long thought:
Mr Joyce said that from 10 June, Qantas' New Zealand subsidiary, Jetconnect, which operates a fleet of B737 aircraft, would focus its operations on the Tasman.
"Jetconnect's current fleet will be progressively upgraded, initially with three next generation B737-800s to be delivered between September and November," Mr Joyce said.
"The B737-800 aircraft will be used on both the Sydney-Auckland and Melbourne-Auckland routes, offering 12 Business and and 156 Economy class seats, individual in-seat video screens for every passenger and new seating styled by Qantas Creative Director Marc Newson."
^