The quiet achiever: Jetstar’s domestic ops in New Zealand

By Andrew Curran.

Jetstar is best known as an Australian domestic low-cost carrier, but the airline also operates domestically in New Zealand, flying seven routes serving six cities using nine A320-200s. On these routes, it offers an alternative to Air New Zealand.

However, aside from having a far smaller market presence (Jetstar provides around 15% of New Zealand’s weekly domestic seat capacity compared with Air New Zealand’s 80%-plus market share) Jetstar’s operating model is also very different from that of Air New Zealand.

Whereas Air New Zealand, partly by design and partly because of its de facto public service obligations, tries to be all things to all people in New Zealand, operating different-sized aircraft to a wide variety of cities and towns, often on a high-frequency basis, Jetstar keeps its New Zealand operation tight.

The Australian airline operates only one type of aircraft on domestic routes in New Zealand — the A320-200. It has six A320s based at Auckland Airport (AKL) and three based at Christchurch Airport (CHC). Aside from domestic routes, these aircraft also operate some trans-Tasman services and Jetstar’s Auckland – Rarotonga (RAR) flights.

Jetstar flies seven domestic routes within New Zealand

The far larger Air New Zealand operates 39 domestic routes. In contrast, Jetstar operates seven:

• Auckland (AKL) – Wellington (WLG)
• Auckland (AKL) – Christchurch (CHC)
• Auckland (AKL) – Dunedin (DUD)
• Auckland (AKL) – Queenstown (ZQN)
• Christchurch (CHC) – Wellington (WLG)
• Christchurch (CHC) – Hamilton (HLZ)
• Queenstown (ZQN) – Wellington (WLG)

Jetstar commits significant resources to the Auckland – Christchurch route, operating between six and eight round-trips per day, for a total of 52 return flights per week.

In contrast, it operates between two and four daily round-trips on the Auckland – Wellington city pair, for a total of 22 weekly return flights.

On New Zealand’s third busiest domestic route, the Wellington – Christchurch city pair, Jetstar operates twice-daily round-trips, or 14 return flights per week.

Jetstar is comprehensively outgunned by Air New Zealand, which is operating 99 return flights on the Auckland – Christchurch route during the first week of June, along with 92 return flights on the Auckland – Wellington route and 86 return flights on the Wellington – Christchurch city pair during the same week.

This suggests Jetstar is not so much trying to compete directly with Air New Zealand as complement it. Jetstar also picks up some feeder traffic from Qantas’s trans-Tasman flights.

Elsewhere across Jetstar’s domestic New Zealand network, it operates:

• One daily round-trip on the Auckland – Dunedin route.
• Three daily round-trips on the Auckland – Queenstown city pair.
• Three weekly round-trips on the Wellington – Queenstown route.
• Daily flights on the Christchurch – Hamilton route.

Jetstar carves out a niche in New Zealand

The Hamilton flights were only introduced late last year and followed the launch of two trans-Tasman routes into the North Island city. The daily Christchurch – Hamilton flights arrive approximately 90 minutes to two hours before the Hamilton – Gold Coast and Hamilton – Sydney flights depart, providing a good example of the feeder strategy at work.

Unfortunately, the connections work less effectively for passengers travelling towards Christchurch.

Jetstar has carved out a niche in a market fiercely loyal to Air New Zealand. Its parent airline, Qantas, exited New Zealand’s domestic market in 2009. Along with its disciplined network strategy, that is, focusing on higher-volume trunk routes rather than thinner regional services, Jetstar's New Zealand operations have also benefited from its relationship with Qantas.

Combine that with a low-cost operating model, a strong emphasis on maximising ancillary revenue, a decision not to directly match Air New Zealand’s scale or regional reach, and a focus on lower fares and straightforward point-to-point services, and Jetstar has developed a strategy that appears to be working, allowing it to build a small but viable presence in New Zealand’s domestic aviation market.

Photos: Jetstar/GCMapper.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com.