Jetstar Boeing 787 for Gold Coast, Cairns flights to Tokyo, Osaka
By David Flynn, June 4 2014
Jetstar will upgrade all flights from the Gold Coast and Cairns to Tokyo and Osaka to the Boeing 787 by September this year as Qantas' low-cost offshoot continues to ramp up its Dreamliner fleet.
The move is sure to be a hit with Japanese tourists and sees Jetstar trump JAL in using the Boeing 787 on the Australia-Japan route.
Review, photos: Jetstar Boeing 787 business class
First up is the JQ11/12 direct service between the Gold Coast and Tokyo's Narita Airport, will switch over from the current Airbus A330 to a Boeing 787 from July 24 and run "up to seven days a week during the peak period" according to Jetstar.
A Cairns-Tokyo Boeing 787 flight will follow from August 14, again with scope for daily flights during the busiest times of the year, while Cairns-Osaka will see the Dreamliner starting September 5 up to five days a week.
“These are Jetstar’s eighth and ninth Boeing 787 routes and it means that all of our long haul Japan routes from Queensland will be operated by the aircraft" said Jetstar Australia and New Zealand CEO David Hall.
In each case the Airbus A330s previously assigned to those routes will be handed down to Qantas to join the Flying Kangaroo's growing fleet of twin-aisle Airbus jets for use on domestic routes, with an eventual upgrade to the airline's new Business Suite business class seat.
Read: Up close with Qantas' next-gen Business Suite
Jetstar says it's on track to retire all of its A330s by the end of 2015 and switch to an 'all-787' long range international fleet, allowing Qantas to put its older fuel-thirsty Boeing 767s out to pasture.
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
27 May 2014
Total posts 2
Once again they only look after the eastern states
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
07 Mar 2013
Total posts 61
You sound very displeased..
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2014
Total posts 49
Fair enough as that's where the population are. Jetstar is a company, not a charity and if not enough Perth-ers are flying, that's not exactly JQ (or QFs) fault.
How does their premium economy compare to their business class? From what I've gathered, their J is the equavalent to Y+ in most other airlines so maybe they're just calling it by its proper name now?
04 Nov 2012
Total posts 217
Can't wait for JQ to do the same on the SYD/HNL/SYD route.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Mar 2014
Total posts 73
$849 for "premium economy" each way is huge compared with their sale price in Y.
27 Mar 2014
Total posts 40
Wonderful that Qantas will get Jetstar's hand me downs, wonder what the average age of the QF fleet will be eventually??? And plenty of Perth people are flying, we will just be doing it on Thai's 787s and Qatar's and other airlines that want to give us a decent product...
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Aug 2012
Total posts 2209
You realise the A332s coming home are not exactly ancient aircraft, right? Around half are post-2007 frames, and the older ones no older then ten years old.
Qantas will end up with around thirty A330s, and this gives them economy of scale, much like they had economy of scale when running a large 747 fleet.
The problem with the A330s is their inconsistent and generally poor cabin product (bar Economy in the newest frames), not the aircraft themselves - the critical thing is to refurbish these frames ASAP.
23 Jan 2014
Total posts 11
The 787 has all the advantages that come from higher pressurisation and higher humidity. In those circumstances it is unacceptable that QF PAX (who are paying full fare) are getting lumbered with the A330s whilst JQ PAX get the 787s.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Aug 2012
Total posts 2209
If you want to get down into the minutiae of each aircraft to justify which carrier it should sit with, I put it to you, Sir, that narrow 3-3-3 should stay with JQi and comfortable 2-4-2 should stay with QFi.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Dec 2013
Total posts 16
How about the Melbourne Narita route??
14 Jun 2013
Total posts 353
What about it? If Jetstar announced a 787 for Melbourne-Narita it would be in this article.
03 Jun 2014
Total posts 27
Personally in economy I prefer the layout of the A330's. 2-4-2 beats 3-3-3 any day of the week IMO.
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