Louise Upston: Tourism Minister on Jetstar announcing new routes in latest expansion

Jetstar has unveiled its biggest expansion ever of its New Zealand and Trans-Tasman network. 

It's adding new routes from Brisbane to Queenstown and Hamilton to Christchurch, and increasing capacity on five domestic and trans-tasman routes - creating a total of more than 660,000 extra seats a year.

Tourism Minister Louise Upston says this is proof more airlines have confidence in what New Zealand can offer. 

"What it says is that Jetstar and Qantas have real confidence in the market in New Zealand - and they're really confident about the direction the Government's taking in our absolute, unabashed ambition for more visitors."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now competition's heading up for air New Zealand and the
domestic market. Jetstar has announced today it's biggest ever expansion
in New Zealand with over six hundred thousand extra seats.
There's also a new daily route between Hamilton and christ
Church and seasonal roots from Queenstown to Brisbane. Louise Upston
is the Tourism Minister and with us.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Now, Hi, Louise, good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
How are you well? Thank you? You like the look of it.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh, it's great news. And look what it says is
that Jetstar and Quantus have real confidence in the market
in New Zealand and they're really confident about the direction
the government's taking in our absolute unabashed ambition for more
visitors into New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
What do you reckons more exciting the Hamilton christ Church
route or the Queenstown Brisbane route.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh, it's a bit of a toss up, but being
a sort of one that uses the Hamilton airport, that's
got to be a pretty exciting one.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
So purely from a self serving position, I like Hamilton.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Why why would it be anything else? No, Look, in
all seriousness, you know this is the single biggest expansion
ever of Jetstar New Zealand and also the Trans Tasman network,
So that is a significant step for Jetstar and Quantus.
I think it's a really exciting day in terms of
increased options, increased choice and of course increased competition, and

(01:16):
it just gives more options both within New Zealand but
also more destinations that we can get to in Australia.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Look, I look at something like this and the first
aught that comes to mind is why is in New
Zealand not being this confident and expanding. Do you have
some concerns about that that we've got an Australian carrier
who's prepared to up the number of seats while in
New Zealand just doesn't have that level of ability.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, I think in New Zealand would need to answer
any questions about that. You know, they've got it, had
a number of challenges that they have faced, but I
think this is a really positive sign for New Zealand
and for New Zealand tourism. What we do want to
do is attract more airlines to bring international routes into
the various airports cross New Zealand. So while Auckland will

(02:03):
see the Lion's share, it's really exciting to see jet
Star earlier this year coming into Hamilton, coming into Dunedin.
It gives lots more opportunities for those Australians that are
increasing in their numbers coming to our shores, the places
they land and therefore where they travel, and the businesses
that benefit from that. So getting into more regions is

(02:26):
really exciting. But it also means there's more options around
schedules and price for domestic connections, and I think it's
a really positive day for New Zealand to see Quantus
and Jetstar delivering six hundred and sixty thousand fewer seats, sorry.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
More seats. Yeah, kind of the opposite, Louise, how do
we get people because everybody's obviously, I mean just look
at it. Look it's Brisbane to Queenstown, right, everybody loves
the South Island. How do we get these tourists to
love the North Island.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Well, that's where I think, you know, destinations like Hamilton
are really important. So it's getting people to fly into Hamilton.
They're then traveling around the central North Island the same
as Dunedin. So they might land in Dunedin and then
travel through a different part of the South island. The
regions are coordinating and collaborating, so the Southern Way is

(03:22):
working together to say, once somebody's landed in Dunedin, how
do we make it easier for them to explore parts
of New Zealand that they otherwise might not And so
it's really ensuring we get more visitors, we get more
Australians choosing to visit New Zealand and then encouraging and
enabling them to move around New Zealand and experience different places,

(03:45):
so that's where they land in the first place. But
also cheaper domestic fares also make it easier for international
visitors to move around the country and experience more places.
So that's an absolute one one.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Thank you so much. Louis appreciate it. Louis Epston, Tourism Minister.
Hither Jetstar Asia shut down their operations and that's where
the planes have come from. For more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive. Listen live to news talks the'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.