Fresh competition lowers fares to Queenstown

Sale fares from $7 at Jetstar.com#

More international and domestic tourists will be able to visit Queenstown, with new low fare connections to Wellington and Sydney introduced by Jetstar by the end of the year.

From 22 December, Jetstar will operate a daily Wellington-Queenstown flight with an every day lead-in fare of NZD$79, and a twice-weekly Sydney-Queenstown flight starting from NZD/AUD$199 one-way at Jetstar.com. Frequency of existing Melbourne-Queenstown and Auckland-Queenstown services will also increase.

Jetstar’s every day lead-in Queenstown-Wellington and Sydney-Queenstown fares are at least 30 per cent cheaper than existing fares on each route.

Jetstar Australia & NZ CEO David Hall said the airline was breaking the monopoly on a seventh NZ domestic route.

“Jetstar’s fares are consistently low, which makes it easier for people to travel and leaves them with more money to spend when they arrive,” Mr Hall said.

“Since we started flying in New Zealand, more than 70 per cent of our domestic fares were sold for less than $100NZD, which is good news for customers and for tourist-based economies like Queenstown.

“As we keep expanding our network in New Zealand, and in fact right across the Asia Pacific region, we see our low fares enable people to travel more often. It shows the ability we have to put more tourist destinations and more visits to friends and family within reach,” he added.

“Queenstown is one of the region’s premier tourist spots and we’re very pleased to be increasing domestic and international links as part of our overall commitment to the New Zealand market.”

As well as the new connections to Sydney and Wellington, Jetstar will introduce an additional weekly Melbourne-Queenstown flight (to become 3 per week), and two additional weekly Auckland-Queenstown flights (to become 11 weekly).

The new twice weekly Sydney-Queenstown service will replace the airline’s existing twice weekly Gold Coast-Queenstown service, which will cease from 8 November 2011.

From 8 November, the airline will suspend its Auckland-Cairns service during the low tourist season, to be reinstated on 31 March 2012.

Jetstar first began flights to Queenstown in mid-2009 and carried 238,000 passengers to-and-from the South Island holiday town in the 2011 financial year – more than 20 per cent than the previous year. The airline’s overall domestic traffic in New Zealand rose 5 per cent over the same period.

Queenstown Airport Chief Executive Officer Steve Sanderson said: “Jetstar has always stated that they are about growing their services and frequency to and from Queenstown. Today's announcement demonstrates Jetstar’s commitment to Queenstown and the region. We are delighted to work with Jetstar in their plans to build and continue to bring more visitors to our region.”

Destination Queenstown Tony Everitt said: “These new Jetstar routes and additional services are very welcome news for Queenstown’s visitor industry. Destination Queenstown has been actively marketing to Wellingtonians, Aucklanders and Sydneysiders so these extra flights will make it even easier for visitors to access the resort and enjoy all the activities on offer.”

FIRST SALE

Sale fares are now available at Jetstar.com for travel Wellington-Queenstown from $39 and for travel Sydney-Queenstown from $139. The 24 hour sale commences at 12.01am (NZ time)/ 9.01pm (AUST time) on 26 September and ends at 11.59pm(NZ time) / 8.59pm (AUST time) 26 September 2011. #Terms and conditions apply. Visit Jetstar.com.

SECOND SALE

Sale fares from $7 for travel between Wellington-Queenstown and sale fares from $99 for travel between Sydney-Queenstown will be available for 90 minutes from 9am 26 September 2011 (NZ time) / 6am 26 September 2011 (AUST time) at Jetstar.com. #Terms and conditions apply. Visit Jetstar.com.
ends

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