Jetstar launches Melbourne-Sydney services

Australia's low fares airline Jetstar has commenced its new Melbourne to Sydney flights introducing its low fares leadership on Australia's largest leisure air corridor with a 5 times daily return A320 service.

The inaugural services have been well-supported by the Australian traveling public with all flights operating on Jetstar's new route today completely sold-out.

Representing Jetstar's 43^rd city pair market, Jetstar will operate its low fare services between Terminal 1 (Qantas Domestic) at Melbourne Airport and Terminal 2 at Sydney Airport.

The value-based carrier is the only airline to operate to both of Melbourne's major airports, offering customers access to the Victorian capital from a total of 12 interstate destinations including Gold Coast, Brisbane, Hobart, Newcastle and Cairns.

Melbourne Airport is the 13^th interstate port to be connected to Sydney by Jetstar.

Jetstar now offers in excess of 3000 seats each week between Melbourne Airport and Melbourne (Avalon) Airport direct to Sydney providing consumers with a choice of gateways to Melbourne city and regional Victoria.

Jetstar has backed its entry on to the competitive route with the Jetstar Price Beat Guarantee, which

means when booking on Jetstar at a similar date and time the airline will beat any competitor by 10 per cent. Conditions apply - see Jetstar.com.

For the benefit of travelers on the Sydney to Melbourne corridor Jetstar also offers its unique Lowest Fare Finder application at Jetstar.com to enable customers to find the most cost effective time to fly.

Jetstar Chief Executive Officer Bruce Buchanan said by further extending the Qantas Group's existing two flying brands in the Australian domestic market, Jetstar will provide incremental capacity to Qantas' existing high-frequency full service CityFlyer offering on the Melbourne-Sydney route

Mr Buchanan said Jetstar's market entry on the nation's largest air route would make air travel more accessible to all Australians.

"While we expect Jetstar's new Melbourne-Sydney services to be strongly supported by flyers seeking the lowest fares between Australia's two largest capitals, Qantas will importantly continue to maintain its high frequency premium offering on the route," Mr Buchanan said.

He said Jetstar had dramatically changed Australians' travel patterns in its first five years, by allowing more people to travel more often to more destinations.

"For the year ending June 2009, Melbourne-Sydney remained Australia's busiest route with a total of 6.81 million passengers," Mr Buchanan said.

"Through our low fares Jetstar expects to further stimulate affordable and frequent travel between our two largest cities."

Jetstar offers its passengers an innovative and diverse product offering, such as Extra Leg Room seats and JetSaver Light fares giving customers the ability to choose what is most important to them.

Jetstar flyers on its Melbourne-Sydney services will experience the choice of seat selection at time of booking at Jetstar.com, the flexibility of choosing Web Check In, Self Service Kiosks and future groundbreaking SMS Boarding Pass technology to deliver a hassle free airport experience.

Qantas Frequent Flyer members will continue to earn points and status credits when travelling on JetFlex fares on the route. Qantas Frequent Flyer members can choose to use their points for flight awards on Jetstar services in two ways; via Qantas and Partner Classic Awards or Jetstar Any Seat Awards.