Jetstar will boost its services to and from the Northern Territory over the next seven months.
The low-cost airline is set to increase frequencies and use larger aircraft on domestic and Bali routes in the NT, adding around 54,000 seats per year, or a 12 per cent increase over existing services.
Flights from Sydney to Uluru will increase by two per week, adding 22,000 seats per year, with weekly services from Darwin to Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide also to increase during periods of high demand.
Additionally, starting 3 July, Darwin to Melbourne services will switch from A320 to larger A321ceo aircraft, and from 2 August, Jetstar will fly A321neo LRs from Darwin to Bali and Adelaide, adding an estimated 2200 new seats to Bali between August and October.
“Adding more than 52,000 low fares seats between the NT and four Australian capitals and Bali will give Territorians greater choice and travel options over coming months,” said Jetstar executive customer manager Jenn Armor.
“We’re incredibly excited to be flying the newest aircraft in our fleet, the Airbus A321neo LR, on the popular Darwin to Adelaide and Bali routes from August.
“Bali is an international gateway through which Territorians can access Jetstar’s extensive network across Asia and jump onto Qantas, codeshare and interline partners to the Middle East, Europe, the UK and beyond.”
Jetstar says it flies up to 90,000 passengers between Darwin and Bali every year, though it had to pause flights for a month last October due to concerns about Defence runway works at Darwin Airport.
Bali is an important destination for Jetstar, and parent company Qantas Group is currently in a pitched battle with rival Virgin Australia for extra capacity to Denpasar, with Jetstar saying its prices are lower while Virgin has criticised its use of overseas crews.
Qantas applied to the government to operate extra services to the popular holiday island in November before Virgin replied with a counteroffer. The International Air Services Commission has to decide on a winner as there isn’t enough capacity to service both airlines’ ambitions.
Qantas wants to start daily Jetstar services between Cairns–Melbourne–Denpasar and three flights per week between Adelaide–Perth–Denpasar, using its new fleet of A321LRs.
Virgin, meanwhile, is planning two daily services from the Gold Coast and Adelaide to Bali, both via Perth.
