Jetstar takes off with international flights from Queenstown

Low fares airline Jetstar will take off with first-time international flights from Queenstown this week with services to Melbourne and the Gold Coast starting from Thursday 16 December and Friday 17 December respectively.

Jetstar has also expanded its Auckland-Queenstown connections, with its current daily (7pw) service to grow to 11 per week from Thursday 16 December.

The new services represent growth in Queenstown capacity by Jetstar of more than 50 per cent, bringing its total number of Jetstar low fare domestic and international services to 22 weekly return services.

Jetstar now offers a total of 7,700 seats per week to and from the popular South Island destination from four domestic and international destinations.

Jetstar Australia & NZ Chief Executive Officer David Hall visited Queenstown to celebrate the new services, meeting with representatives from Destination Queenstown, Queenstown Airport, Queenstown Lakes District Council and the local tourism and business community.

“Our new services to Queenstown are already proving to be extremely popular for Australians seeking direct, hassle-free, low fare flights to New Zealand’s spectacular South Island,” Mr Hall said.

“As always, we’re committed to offering the lowest fares for travel to and from Queenstown, with our fares up to 30 per cent lower than our competitors operating on the same or similar routes.”

Queenstown Airport CEO Steve Sanderson said: "We are delighted to see Jetstar become an international carrier into Queenstown. These international services will be a major contributor to the 25 per cent increase in international visitors we are expecting to visit this summer.

“The Gold Coast is a hub airport for Jetstar, with extensive direct connections from Japan and South-East Asia.  A convenient link to Queenstown is now available, which will stimulate the Japanese and Asian markets which have been relatively challenging over recent years.”

Destination Queenstown CEO Tony Everitt welcomed the new routes: “Australia is a key market for us so to have another international carrier flying from two East Coast locations to Queenstown is fantastic.”

Jetstar celebrated its inaugural flight between Melbourne-Auckland earlier this week and will now operate a total of 49 weekly trans Tasman flights.

Jetstar’s one-way every day fares start from NZ$199 Queenstown-Gold Coast and Melbourne-Queenstown at Jetstar.com.

Jetstar’s value for money fares are backed up by the Jetstar Price Beat Guarantee* whereby the airline will beat its competitors by 10 per cent.