Jetstar to begin Boeing 787 flights in November

Jetstar will launch its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner on domestic routes within Australia, before ramping up to international routes 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”.

The 787 will be fitted with 21 recliner-style business class seats and 314 slimline economy seats.

Read: Jetstar reveals Boeing 787 seating

Mark Dal Pra, who leads Jetstar’s 787 program, told Australian Business Traveller that the final decision on launch routes would be made this month, but would be routes serviced by the airline’s current Airbus A320 network

The move will provide a “great window of opportunity for thousands of domestic travellers to experience the 787” says Dal Pra, and the 787‘s domestic services will be extensively marketed to the public.

Jetstar will have three Boeing 787s in the air by year’s end, with 11 of the next-generation jetliners delivered by 2015.

“All eleven of our Airbus A330s will transition to Qantas, we will be replacing them one for one with the 787, and by 2015 we will have a purely 787 longhaul fleet”.

Australian Business Traveller is visiting Boeing’s 787 factory at Everett, Washington as a guest of Boeing, Qantas and Jetstar

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David Flynn

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.