Jetstar adds Queenstown flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington

Jetstar is offering more flights to Queenstown in New Zealand, with new flights from Sydney and Wellington, plus additional flights from Melbourne.

Queenstown is a major conference and meeting destination, especially with many of the larger business hotels in earthquake-hit Christchurch out of commission since February.

The town is also the hub for the Central Otago wine region, which is increasing in international importance within the wine industry.

Jetstar's new Sydney-Queenstown return flights will run twice weekly from 23 December.

The airline is planning the flights for Monday and Friday mornings, which is a welcome addition since there are no existing flights on Mondays.

Qantas, Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia's Pacific Blue subsidiary also fly Sydney-Queenstown, with four flights weekly on Qantas, three on Air New Zealand and one on Pacific Blue.

Flight JQ223 will leave Sydney at 0950, arriving in Queenstown at 1445. Return flight JQ224 leaves Queenstown at 0950 and gets into Sydney at 1100.

Jetstar is also increasing Melbourne-Queenstown flights, up from two to three flights each week.

Within New Zealand, Jetstar will also introduce a daily flight between Queenstown and capital city Wellington from 22 December.

In addition to more flight flexibility, competition from Jetstar on the routes can be expected to bring lower prices and improved services on existing full-service airlines as they try to differentiate their services from the low-cost carrier.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.