Brand new international flights between Western Australia and New Zealand’s South Island are set to take off from October this year. This will mark the first time that Jetstar has served this route, and it will reconnect Perth to Christchurch after Air New Zealand shelved its seasonal service between the two cities in 2019.

Jetstar announced its intentions to serve Christchurch from Perth on March 2, with the airline planning to deploy its Airbus A321LR on the route seasonally between October and March (the Southern Hemisphere summer season) with the capacity to seat up to 232 passengers in an all economy class layout.

Three Flights A Week

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Jetstar will add 30,000 seats from October 27 through to March 27, with its new South Island service departing from Perth and Christchurch on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The Perth to Christchurch service will take six hours, ten minutes gate to gate, while the return flight will amount to seven hours, 15 minutes in total.

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Jetstar Airways is a low-cost carrier, so those onboard will need to prepare themselves with their own entertainment for the seven-hour journey. As expected with an LCC, checked-in baggage costs extra, and meals are available onboard to purchase. The airline has a wide range of onboard menu options, and these can be purchased onboard or pre-booked via the carrier’s website. The airline will follow the schedule below:

Non-stop Between Perth And Christchurch

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Jetstar’s decision to commence flying non-stop between Perth and Christchurch comes after an almost seven-year absence of non-stop flights between the two cities. Air New Zealand historically operated a seasonal service with a mix of Boeing 767-300, 787-9, and 777-200 between 2013 and 2019; however was ultimately shelved permanently in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Since then, travelers looking to travel between the two cities have been forced to transit via the likes of Auckland (Air New Zealand) or eastern Australian cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, or Perth (offered with either Jetstar or Qantas). This marks the third new trans-Tasman service to take off from Christchurch in the last few years, with Jetstar launching non-stop flights to Cairns (year-round), and Air New Zealand to Adelaide (seasonal).

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While there is expected to be plenty of demand for service between the two cities, both Jetstar and Qantas are boasting that the new service will also complement and feed into the two airlines’ wider network from Perth. Jetstar already offers several non-stop services to Asia, such as Phuket, Bangkok, and Bali, while Qantas also serves Singapore, Johannesburg, and Paris year-round, and seasonal services to Rome.

While not all services would connect seamlessly, there is the opportunity that passengers can have a stopover in Perth before connecting to the airline’s wider network. Christchurch to Perth services will miss the main departure bank from Perth, and return services will capture some inbound services from Asia, such as Jetstar’s Bangkok to Perth route, which arrives early morning (5:40 am).

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Jetstar Continues To Expand Trans-Tasman

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Jetstar continues to expand its reach to New Zealand, the airline already offers several domestic services between main centers, hwoever more recently has also extended its footprint to offer more trans-Tasman flights to New Zealand cities than any other airline. The carrier already has a robust network of services to Auckland Airport (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast).

The airline also maintains a base at Christchurch, offering non-stop services to Melbourne, Gold Coast, Cairns, and now Perth seasonally from October. The country’s capital, Wellington Airport, has non-stop services with JQ to the Gold Coast.

Last year, Jetstar became the only airline to offer international services from both Dunedin and Hamilton after a several-year absence. The airline offers non-stop flights from Sydney and the Gold Coast multiple times a week, while Dunedin sees non-stop services to the Gold Coast.