Phuket Sydney Flights Boosted as Jetstar Ups the Air Ante

PHUKET: Australian airline Jetstar, an offshoot of Qantas, is to increase its Sydney to Phuket service to four times a week.

The low cost carrier will also launch daily flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Bali.

Jetstar Group chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said the changes were in response to strong demand.

Australians have always been devoted travellers with Bali and Phuket their favorite Southeast Asia beach destinations.

Jetstar will increase Sydney to Phuket services from three to four per week from December 15 with flights to Bali from Sydney and Melbourne rising to a daily schedule from the same date.

Jetstar will also start three weekly direct services from Melbourne to Honolulu from December 15, using its 310-seat Airbus A330 widebody aircraft.

Air Australia attempted to pioneer Australia-Honolulu flights earlier this year, contributing to a premature collapse when the young brand was unable to pay its fuel bill for a flight from Phuket.

The airline attempted to make the Phuket-Brisbane and Phuket-Melbourne routes pay and reportedly found plenty of passengers.

But in stretching itself too far too soon without enough airline management experience, Air Australia went bust.

No other airline has rolled in to fill the gap left on these routes. Jetstar is a different proposition.

With newcomers Scoot (Singapore Airlines) and Thai Smile (Thai International) attempting to carve niches in the region and AirAsia continuing to expand, the Aussie airline is attempting to shore up popular routes as fast as it possibly can.