New Sydney-Honolulu flights boost competition to Hawaiian Airlines
Qantas subsidiary Jetstar plans flights beginning in November
Hawaiian Airlines, which began flying to Sydney in 2004, will have more competition for its Australia traffic later this year in the form of a low-cost carrier from Down Under.
Qantas Airways subsidiary Jetstar said earlier this week that it plans to begin flights in November to six international destinations, including Hawaii and Japan.
Jetstar will offer three flights a week from Sydney to Honolulu and two a week from Melbourne to Honolulu.
Qantas already flies to Honolulu from Sydney three times a week. Air Canada, the only other airline serving Hawaii from Australia, flies daily from Sydney to Honolulu and continues on to Vancouver, Canada.
"This will allow Jetstar to sustainably offer low fares to customers flying long haul directly between Australia to new and fast-growing overseas destinations for the Qantas Group," Jetstar Chief Executive Alan Joyce said.
Jetstar said it initially will use Airbus A330-200s then transition to new Boeing 787 aircraft in 2008.
Jetstar also will fly to Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Bali, Indonesia. The discount carrier's entry into the Japanese market will include flights to Osaka from Sydney and Brisbane.
Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian, said that Australian travelers "have responded strongly to Hawaiian's brand of service."
He added, "We're ready to meet the competition head-on just as we do in all of our markets."
Dunkerley has declined to say whether the airline's four-days-a-week Sydney route is profitable. However, Hawaiian plans to reduce its service to three days a week in mid-June to redeploy the aircraft for its mainland summer schedule.
Qantas has lost 11 percent of its market lead for international travel to and from Australia in the past 10 years to rivals including Singapore Airlines and Emirates Airline, according to Bloomberg News. Joyce told Bloomberg that Jetstar is 45 percent cheaper to run than Qantas, which is midway through a plan to cut $2.2 billion from costs over five years to combat rising fuel prices.
Joyce told Bloomberg that Jetstar's international routes will increase Qantas' capacity and allow the parent company to recover its market share, which has fallen to 30 percent from 45 percent 20 years ago.
Qantas' chief executive, Geoff Dixon, also said the company in July will close its Australian Airlines unit, which flies to 14 Asia-Pacific cities, to focus on Qantas and Jetstar.