Just weeks after celebrating the arrival of the 787 Dreamliner to their fleet Jetstar have announced they are pulling out of the Auckland to Singapore route.
The flight had been operated by an Airbus A330 aircraft and was at one point a daily flight.
The airline would have been facing increased competition on the route after Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines announced in increase in capacity to Singapore, including the addition of an A380 to the route.
Auckland Airport have said they are disappointed by Jetstar’s decision.
Jetstar started flying the route three years ago and announced it was suspending the route because the service was not performing as the carrier would have liked and its capacity could be better put to use on other routes.
Glenn Wedlock, Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical commercial, says, “We are disappointed Jetstar has decided to remove almost 100,000 low fare seats from the market and reduce the travel choices of 85,000 passengers every year.”
“The cost of this announcement to the New Zealand tourism industry is over $70 million every year, so it’s important we secure capacity in wider Asian markets to replace this loss. Auckland Airport is actively working on replacing this value.”
“Today’s announcement confirms the concerns we expressed to New Zealand’s Minister of Transport that the proposed alliance between Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand could have detrimental impacts on the growth and promotion of competition in international air services.”
“Today’s decision from Jetstar is a reminder of the importance of the airport continuously marketing Auckland as a destination to other airlines.” Mr Wedlock said.
The service ends on July 21.
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