Jetstar Bombardier Q300

Don't worry, for Kiwiana is not dead the laser kiwi hasn't killed it thankfully and is back again. How frequently? Well it depends if I'm up for doing an IRL or not, but I should be more active on this gallery from now (hopefully)!

Anyway, here we have a Jetstar Q300. 'Now what is an Australian registered aircraft belonging to an Australian airline doing on Kiwiana?' you may ask. well to that I say don't you mean the West Island of New Zealand? these Jetstar Q300s actually operated domestically in New Zealand to try and compete with Air New Zealand on domestic routes. Let's start from the beginning

So you see, Australian airlines have actually had a lengthy history of operating domestic operations in New Zealand. From Ansett (Rip) to Qantas, these famously Australian airlines have not only competed with Air New Zealand on the trans-Tasman routes, but also domestically. Firstly, Ansett started Ansett New Zealand in 1986 and began operating the following year, and around the time Ansett tragically collapsed, Qantas New Zealand took over the shortly-to-be defunct Ansett NZ's operations for a little bit before withdrawing from the domestic New Zealand market in 2001, very shortly after they had started. I won't go much further on those two airlines though as I will cover the history of these subsidiaries on another post (or more likely 2, we'll see).

Now here is where Jetstar comes in.

In June of 2015, Jetstar announced that it would begin domestic regional operations within New Zealand. They already operated A320s domestically between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown, and had been doing so for years, but these new domestic operations would not be operated by A320s (gosh could you imagine if they did!). Instead, they would be operated by Bombardier Q300s which were operated by QantasLink. They announced in August exactly where they'd be flying to. Out of the large towns, they selected all the ones starting with the letter 'N'*. They were:

Nelson
Napier
New Plymouth (yay where I live)
North Palmerston?*

*Yeah Ik this one doesn't start with an N (Palmerston North is the real name), but it made for a funny bit in their TV ad showing where they were going to fly when they announced it!

All 4 destinations would be flying to and from Auckland with the exception of Nelson, who in addition to the Nelson-Auckland service also received the Nelson-Wellington service. This was a point of criticism among many as people asked 'why does Napier or New Plymouth not have service to Wellington?" (they probably complained about Palmerston North too, but to be fair it isn't really a long enough flight to warrant a Q300 anyway). But regardless, on 1 December 2015, Jetstar kicked off the regional routes with the inaugural flights to and from Nelson and Napier. New Plymouth and Palmerston North flights began on 1 February 2016.

Jetstar had brought the price to travel to/from these places down significantly, offering $18 tickets for the flights. To remain competitive, Air New Zealand brought down their prices to as low as $9 a ticket (especially on routes that Jetstar didn't operate on), prices only really seen in ultra-low-cost carriers like Ryanair. Jetstar was welcomed with lots of fanfare, people were very happy to finally be able to travel affordably.

Sadly, it wasn't too long before the beloved Jetstar would pull out of the regional market. Due to 10s of millions of dollars being lost on the flights per year, Jetstar on the 18th of October 2019 formally announced that it would be ending all 5 regional turboprop routes by the end of November that year. It was a blow to travelers looking for a more budget-friendly way to travel, and many feared that Air New Zealand were going to hike up the prices to ridiculous amounts such as what they had before Jetstar entered the regional market. Luckily, Air New Zealand were forced not to put their prices up that high, and the prices for tickets were capped from that point on.

Despite the fact that it has been 2-and-a-half years since Jetstar pulled out, the effects of their operations can still be seen today as Air New Zealand has still got not too unreasonable prices for their regional routes due to the fact that they were forced to keep their prices at more consumer-friendly levels. It still feels a bit weird to not see the Jetstar Q300s flying in anymore, but nonetheless, they have still left an impact on the New Zealand domestic market, and still continue to operate domestic routes with A320s even to this day.

VH-TQL: 2004 Bombardier Dash-8-Q300 | Jetstar | Currently: Active with Qantas under the QantasLink brand, owned and operated by Eastern Australia Airlines

Kiwi classic of the day: Black Box | Artist: Stan Walker