OOL & CNS take a win

Gold Coast (OOL) & Cairns (CNS) airports have had a win with Hong Kong Airlines announcing that they will continue their service to the Queensland airports year round.

The news comes just one month into the three month temporary Chinese New Year charter flights HX are operating from January to March.

Hong Kong Airways a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines currently operates these services 3x weekly from Hong Kong to the glitter strip, then back to HKG via CNS, using an Airbus A330. 

The new permanent service will operate twice weekly on the circular HKG-OOL-CNS-HKG route, and will now be open to local travellers.  Honk Kong Airlines is limited to secondary ports like OOL & CNS, due to the bilateral between Australia and Hong Kong, which restricts the number of flights into major airports, that each country is allowed and national carrier Cathay Pacific utilises all the HK rights.

Read the Gold Coast Airport media release HERE or the story via the Gold Coast Bulletin HERE or Australian Aviation HERE

JQ heads to China

Jetstar today have announced they will launch Gold Coast - Wuhan flights from Tuesday 29-September-2015 utilising their Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

This is the first direct Australia - China route for Jetstar, who previously offered one stop flights via Singapore.

The flights will operate twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Jetstar have teamed up with Chinese tour operator Dalian Wanda Group to sell the flights which gives Jetstar an almost certain guarantee that the flights will be profitable.

Read more on the new service via Australian Business Traveller HERE, Australian Aviation HERE or Airline Hub Buzz HERE

JQs week of 1sts

Jetstar launched a raft of inaugural flights this week.

On Sunday 29-March-2015 Cairns welcomed Jetstar's newest international route CNS-DPS-CNS with A320 VH-VFQ operating the inaugural JQ90/91 service.

Gold Coast also saw a new service on Sunday 29-March-2015 with JQ982/983 OOL-PER-OOL departing.  The inaugural service was operated by A320 VH-VFD

On Monday 30-March-2015 the new JQ164/165 MEL-WLG-MEL service departed Melbourne at the delightful red-eye hour of 00:45 with A320 VH-VQR the lucky aircraft.

On Tuesday 31-March-2015 the new JQ125/124 OOL-NAN-OOL service departed Gold Coast with A320 VH-VFJ operating the inaugural return service.

JQ launch OOL-WLG/ZQN flights

Jetstar have today announced two new trans-tasman routes from the Gold Coast at a media event in Wellington.

The Gold Coast will now see a 3x weekly return service to Wellington and also to Queenstown.

WELLINGTON
The new flights to Wellington mark the first international service to WLG by Jetstar.  It appears the first flight on this route will take off on Friday 12-December-2014

JQ167 originates at the Gold Coast departing Coolangatta at 07:30 AEST Wednesday, Friday and Sundays arriving into WLG at 13:50 NZDT.  The return service JQ168 departs WLG W,F, Su at 14:30 NZDT and arrives into OOL at 15:15 AEST.


QUEENSTOWN
Queenstown will see its 3rd Jetstar international destination with Gold Coast following Sydney and Melbourne.  Flights between the two playgrounds take off on Saturday 13-December-2014

JQ193 departs OOL at 07:45 AEST Saturday, Monday and Thursdays arriving into Queenstown at 13:50 NZDT.  The return service JQ194 departs ZQN at 14:30 NZDT and arrives OOL at 15:00 AEST


All flights will operate with Jetstar's A320 aircraft.  One way launch fares on OOL-WLG are $99.00NZD and $129.00NZD on OOL-ZQN

At time of publishing the official Jetstar media release has not been published on their website but an article from stuff.co.nz can be found HERE

JQ 787 just 5 months from service

Jetstar have sparked a flurry of excitement from local spotters in Cairns, Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne & Sydney by announcing their new fleet of 787 aircraft will debut on domestic services in November before heading into international operations in December.

Qantas’ low-cost offshoot, which takes delivery of Australia’s first 787 in late September, says that popular domestic routes from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to the Gold Coast and Cairns “are currently being considered”.

Interestingly enough with the exception of Perth these are the destinations that JQ fly their international A330 services from, and the ports that will see the 787's when they transition over to the international routes.

Read more on the Jetstar route announcement from David Flynn at ausbt.com.au HERE

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Jetstar have also announced the seating layout of their new birds with 21 business class seats in a 2-3-2 layout, while 314 economy seats will be laid out 3-3-3 giving an all up load of 335 passengers.

The seat pitch will be comparable to Jetstar’s current A330 fleet – around 38 inches in business class and 31 inches in economy –  says  Jetstar’s 787 director Mark Dal Pra.

Read more on the seating plans including inseat USB power, and gate-to-gate IFE at ausbt.com.au HERE