Qantas and Jetstar revamp International routes

In response to rising fuel costs Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon has announced major changes to their international routes and schedules. These changes will not only affect Qantas routes but also Jetstar International routes.

Geoff Dixon announced the following changes to Qantas’ Australia, Japan & South East Asia routes

• Cutting Qantas’ 3 weekly service Melbourne-Tokyo (Narita) from September 2008
• Reduction in Qantas’ Sydney-Tokyo (Narita) A330 route from nine to seven services per week from September 2008
• Jetstar withdrawal of the Cairns-Osaka-Nagoya route from December 2008
• Replacement of Qantas’ 14 weekly B767 Cairns-Tokyo (Narita) services with a daily Jetstar non-stop A330 two-class service from December 2008
• Introduction of new Gold Coast-Tokyo (Narita) services five times per week, operated by Jetstar with two-class A330s from December 2008, in addition to Jetstar’s daily Sydney-Gold Coast-Osaka services.

To free up additional Airbus A330 aircraft Jetstar will make the following changes:

• Withdraw from its Sydney-Kuala Lumpur operation to make available an A330 aircraft.
• Replacement its existing three weekly A330 services that operated between Sydney and Ho Chi Minh City with five A320 return services on the new route of Sydney-Darwin-Ho Chi Minh City from September 2008.

Jetstar will replace Qantas on the following routes:

• Perth-Denpasar route, with up to four Jetstar A320 services taking over from Qantas’ B737-800 services from December 2008
• Perth-Jakarta, with three Jetstar A320 return services per week replacing the existing three Qantas B737-800 services from December 2008.

In addition to these Asian changes Qantas will reduce its Boeing 747-400 services on the Sydney Los Angeles route from 17 to 15 flights per week, following the commencement of its Airbus A380 flights later this year.

For me I will be most impacted by the change in Jetstar’s Sydney Ho Chi Minh City route, to a Sydney Darwin Ho Chi Minh City route. Apart from Vietnam Airlines no more direct flights from Sydney to Vietnam, adding an additional few hours to my flight. In addition this route will only be serviced by Jetstar’s Airbus A320 which means no more StarClass L. Having grown up in Darwin and with the many of my family and friends residing there the news is not that bad, i will be able to visit them a lot more often.    

The full Qantas press release can be found here: Qantas Announces International Schedule Changes