Tiger Airway's imminent entry into Australia's domestic market has prompted Qantas to change a long-standing policy on where Jetstar flies.
Until now the Qantas group has required Jetstar to avoid domestic routes also served by Qantas to prevent Jetstar from cannabilising Qantas traffic. Anticipating Tiger's arrival, the group has made a significant change in this policy by allowing Jetstar onto the same Sydney-Brisbane route served by Qantas.
Before now, the heavily travelled Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane triangle was the exclusive domain of Qantas' City Flyer service and rival Virgin Blue. The bulk of domestic business travel in Australia takes place in this triangle.
Jetstar will begin Sydney-Brisbane service with double daily flights in December, within weeks after Tiger launches Australian service. Tiger plans to launch its Australian operation in November with flights from its Melbourne base to Darwin, Launceston and the Queensland destinations of Gold Coast, Mackay and Rockhampton. Flights to Alice Springs and Perce will be added in December.
Qantas is still not allowing Jetstar on the Sydney-Melbourne route, Australia's busiest, although Jetstar does serves Sydney from Avalon, a secondary airport outside of Melbourne.
Source: Airline Business
