Jetstar has today announced some changes to its operations in the Northern Territory which includes the relocation of three Airbus A320 aircraft currently based in Darwin to Adelaide.

This change will result in a small reduction in services and a reorganisation of Jetstar’s operations from Darwin. The changes, in effect from 31 March 2014, include;

• increasing flights between Darwin and Cairns from three per week to daily;
• decreasing flights between Darwin and Denpasar from eight per week to daily;
• decreasing flights between Darwin and Brisbane from nine per week to daily;
• suspending the four times weekly service from Darwin to Manila and Tokyo; and
• decreasing flights between Darwin and Singapore from nine per week to daily services, with the operation of these flights transferred from Jetstar Airways to Jetstar Asia.

Overall the Jetstar Group will reduce the number of weekly departures operating out of Darwin from 54 a week to 49 a week.

The decision to relocate flying is in response to increased capacity and competition, particularly on international routes from foreign carriers.

Jetstar has been clear in the past that our flying from Darwin is among the most marginal on the network.

These changes will ensure we maintain the highest productivity of our aircraft and reflect our strategy to deploy aircraft on routes to meet market demand.

It makes sense to base aircraft where there is more network growth as it keeps our fares low and ensures we have the flexibility to optimise our network and adapt to changing market conditions.