June 17 Update on Jetstar NZ and AUS Services: Volcanic Ash

MELBOURNE, Australia, June 17 /Medianet International-AsiaNet/ --

Jetstar wishes to provide a further update (as at 1030 AEST / 1230 NZ) on its Australian and New Zealand services (Trans Tasman and domestic) as a result of a volcanic ash cloud caused by Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in Chile.

AUSTRALIA

Jetstar is pleased to confirm that all Australian domestic services will operate today.

NEW ZEALAND

Domestic and Trans-Tasman services in and out of Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown will operate from 1200 local time today.

This includes additional ad-hoc Trans-Tasman services between Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne, as listed below.

JQ7004 Auckland – Sydney (departing 1640)
JQ7001 Sydney – Auckland (departing 1900)
JQ7002 Melbourne – Auckland (departing 1400)

Some delays were experienced this morning, as a result of the ash cloud not dispersing as initially predicted by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre last night (Thursday 16 June). However we anticipate services to operate this afternoon and this evening.

Christchurch Trans-Tasman and Domestic services remain cancelled until 1800 local time, however we anticipate resuming all services to and from Christchurch this evening.

The following Christchurch services scheduled for this afternoon have now been re-timed to depart after 1800 local:

Domestic
JQ286 Christchurch – Wellington (departing 2220)
JQ287 Wellington – Christchurch (departing 2340)

Trans-Tasman
JQ166 Christchurch – Melbourne (departing 1800)
JQ171 Melbourne – Christchurch (departing 2040)

All listed times remain subject to review.

Jetstar continues to closely monitor the situation and we will provide a further update on all afternoon and evening Trans-Tasman services if the situation changes.

KEEPING YOU INFORMED

Jetstar will be proactively contacting customers with previously cancelled flights via SMS or telephone to confirm their new flight details.

We encourage our customers to continue to check Jetstar.com, and Jetstar’s twitter and facebook pages for regular updates on our services.

Booked Jetstar customers can check the status of their flight under the 'Flight Status' section of Jetstar.com.

We will also liaise with our customers via SMS if they provided their mobile phone number at the time of booking.

OUR APPROACH

The safety of our passengers, our people and our operations is always Jetstar's number one priority.

Our approach to flying is based on the Qantas Group's high standards of safety and risk assessment. As a Qantas Group airline, Jetstar like Qantas has in place the same monitoring and assessment processes.

While Jetstar's decision to keep aircraft on the ground throughout this event has been significantly costly, our decision to suspend operations is based on commitment to safety – safety always comes before schedule.

We never like causing disruption for our customers, but safety is something that Jetstar will never compromise on.

We continue to review the situation and should future flights be affected we will notify passengers directly.

WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?

Jetstar is liaising with affected passengers and offering them the following options free of charge:

* Defer travel to a later date. Travel must be completed by 31 August 2011.
* Re-routing to get passengers to their end destination. Travel must be completed by 31 August 2011.
* a Jetstar credit voucher or full refund to the value of any unused bookings.

Eligible Jetstar passengers are those who have an existing booking for travel on or after Sunday 12 June and had their flight cancelled due to the ash cloud.

For customers wanting to obtain a Jetstar credit voucher as mentioned above, please visit Jetstar.com to access our online credit voucher form.

All requests for flight re-bookings and refunds must be processed by our call centre. You can find the contact details below.

* From Australia (Freecall): 131 538
* From New Zealand (Freecall): 0800 800 995
* From Singapore (Freecall): 800 6161 977
* Alternatively, call +61 3 9347 0091 (tolls will apply).

JETSTAR NETWORK UPDATE

Safety is Jetstar's top priority and as a result the airline has cancelled the
following flights for Friday 17 June 2011.

NEW ZEALAND

Trans Tasman scheduled services

JQ140 Christchurch – Sydney
JQ172 Christchurch – Brisbane
JQ175 Brisbane – Christchurch
JQ238 Auckland – Gold Coast
JQ221 Gold Coast - Queenstown
JQ222 Queenstown – Gold Coast
JQ241 Gold Coast - Auckland

Domestic New Zealand scheduled services

JQ263 Auckland - Wellington
JQ262 Wellington - Auckland
JQ244 Christchurch- Auckland
JQ247 Auckland – Christchurch
JQ248 Christchurch- Auckland
JQ251 Auckland - Christchurch
JQ252 Christchurch - Auckland
JQ245 Auckland - Christchurch
JQ246 Christchurch - Auckland
JQ249 Auckland - Christchurch
JQ277 Christchurch – Queenstown
JQ276 Queenstown - Christchurch

Media Enquiries:

Jennifer Timm
Corporate Communications Adviser
M: +61 (0) 417 698 249

James Aanensen
Corporate Communications Adviser
M: +61 (01 410 518 590

Jetstar's latest news subscribe to media Twitter account: www.twitter.com/JetstarNew

ENDS