• Increase of 17 Jetstar return services to Cairns per week
• Stronger links with Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast
• More than 50 more cabin crew and pilots to be based in Cairns

Jetstar is ramping up its services in-and-out of Cairns, with a total net increase of more than 200,000 additional seats planned during the next financial year.

In Cairns for the announcement, Jetstar Australia & New Zealand CEO David Hall said the increase would encourage more people to visit one of the country’s top tourist destinations.

“This is great news for holidaymakers and the tourism industry of Far North Queensland,” said Mr Hall.

“We know that low fares encourage new travel demand by putting places like Cairns within reach for more people, particularly families.

“Cairns is already one of the most popular destinations on our network, so we expect to see an increase in holiday makers from the southern states coming in search of some sun.”

This latest boost from Jetstar follows an increase of four extra services between Cairns and Melbourne that started on 1 April 2012, and will come into effect after the Jetstar Japan domestic network takes off on 3 July 2012.

Today’s announcement is part of a major increase to Jetstar’s total domestic capacity by more than 1.2 million seats during 2012/13. Existing routes receiving additional capacity in addition to Cairns include Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Ballina-Byron, Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Hobart and Launceston.

Mr Hall said the launch of Jetstar’s low fares domestic network in Japan – which in April offered promotional fares of less than one cent – would potentially increase traffic on existing Osaka-Cairns and Tokyo-Cairns services.

The Queensland Minister of Tourism, Major events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games the Hon Jann Stuckey MP.

“This is great news for Queensland’s tourism industry and a thriving tourist industry is vital to the state’s economy,” Ms Stuckey said.

“I congratulate Jetstar on their commitment to the Cairns and Coolangatta markets which will help us create more jobs and opportunities for Queenslanders.

“Tourism is one of the Newman Government’s four economic pillars, and we are working hard every day to grow the industry.”

CEO of Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Rob Giason said “News of additional seats for Cairns from strategically important markets supports our identified potential for growth. We are chasing 700,000 inbound seats so this is an excitingly positive announcement. It demonstrates the confidence Jetstar has in the region, and hopefully this confidence will have a significant rub-on effect.”

As part of this capacity increase for northern Queensland, in September Jetstar will increase services between Melbourne and Townsville by three services a week in September to seven per week up from four.

In addition to capacity increases, Jetstar will replace Qantas services on the Cairns-Sydney route from 23 August.

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

ROUTE - INCREASE P/W - START - TOTAL PER WEEK (return)

• Cairns – Gold Coast - 7 services per week - 13 September - up to 14 per week
• Cairns – Melbourne - 3 services per week - 13 September - up to 28 per week
• Brisbane – Cairns - 6 services per week - 13 September - up to 30 per week
• Cairns – Adelaide - 1 service per week - 13 September - 7 per week
• Cairns – Sydney - 7 services per week - 23 August - up to 28 per week (replacing Qantas services)
• Melbourne – Townsville - 3 services per week - 13 September - 7 per week