Jetstar flying to Seoul

[Mattg]

Jetstar is launching 3x weekly OOL-ICN flights from 8 December this year.

Coast to soar with new Seoul connection

Coast to soar with new Seoul connection

www.goldcoastairport.com.au

There are also some very good launch fares available today only (just over $300 return!).

I wonder if this flight is targeted more at Koreans or Australians? Or maybe 50/50? It does make more sense than JQ's MEL-CGO route.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

ICN has been on JQ’s radar for quite sometime, with plenty of quantitative research undertaken in the past 12 months on potential new routes.
What I found particularly interesting was OOL was chosen over MEL as the originating port in Australia, with OOL experiencing mixed success on mid-haul international routes in recent years.
It will be interesting to see how JQ fits this route into its flight schedule considering how tight the aircraft utilisation is on the 11X B787’S that JQ owns.

Any news on lounge access in ICN for those travelling on “ Max bundle” fares?

 

[21510702]

The OOL port was chosen because it is the northern port of Australia so that people from MEL, SYD and Brisbane can connect from there. In fact, JQ49 and JQ50 starts and finishes in SYD.

 

[21510702]

They gave up the MEL-SIN route to free up this 787-8

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

They gave up the MEL-SIN route to free up this 787-8

Sad to see it go, but the smart decision. I reckon this will be a popular route. Will open up the ski resorts in South Korea too over winter.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Any news on lounge access in ICN for those travelling on “ Max bundle” fares?

Assuming T1 there's six or seven PP lounges. Maybe an arrangement will be made with one of them?

 

[Melburnian1]

ICN has been on JQ’s radar for quite sometime, with plenty of quantitative research undertaken in the past 12 months on potential new routes.
What I found particularly interesting was OOL was chosen over MEL as the originating port in Australia, with OOL experiencing mixed success on mid-haul international routes in recent years.
It will be interesting to see how JQ fits this route into its flight schedule considering how tight the aircraft utilisation is on the 11X B787’S that JQ owns...

Cool Cat Phil, absolutely. The BITRE figures show that OOL's international passenger numbers have reduced somewhat. And yet it's potentially a far more viable competitor to BNE than AVV will ever be to MEL.

Not only is JQ's flying roster for its 121 B788s 'tight', but with Vh-VKJ out of service (in HKG) at present after a stay of more than a month impounded in KIX due to the two engine problems encountered on approach on 29 March 2019, it's impossible for JQ to operate all its flights. So at a cost of A$550000 return it's been chartering elderly a QF B744 (often VH-OEB) to operate SYD - HNL - SYD.

MEL_Traveller asserts that even with all aircraft available, JQ may not be able to operate its published timetable in full.

I can't analyse it to that level of detail but the airline sure has a lot of cancellations. Its 'double daillies' ( a term I dislike) from MEL to DPS and back often see one return leg cancelled, while the MEL - HKT flights JQ17/JQ18 also seem to be candidates for the chopping block. Today (5 May) a B788 came in from SGN to MEL and has gone straight out on another international flight, such is the (lack of) fleet situation at present.

The twice weekly MEL - SIN JQ7/JQ8 is another return rotation that can be cancelled. Not so long ago, this ran daily if I recall, but QF bumped up QF37/QF38 so 'the 7' and 'the 8' of its subsidiary were reduced in frequency.

Pay peanuts? We know what one receives...

 

[Melburnian1]

Korean Air ran Incheon - Melbourne not so long ago, three times a week, but could not make a go of it.

Blue Mountains is a huge drawcard for South Koreans.

Even in Y, Korean Air has onboard facilities way better than JQ. To me it's false economy flying Onestar over such a distance.

 

[Catweazle]

Neat, seems like a good idea to me. South Korea is a great destination for city lovers and rambling hikers alike and it might help for some extra competition on these sorts of routes.

 

[jase05]

Cool Cat Phil, absolutely. The BITRE figures show that OOL's international passenger numbers have reduced somewhat. And yet it's potentially a far more viable competitor to BNE than AVV will ever be to MEL.

Not only is JQ's flying roster for its 121 B788s 'tight', but with Vh-VKJ out of service (in HKG) at present after a stay of more than a month impounded in KIX due to the two engine problems encountered on approach on 29 March 2019, it's impossible for JQ to operate all its flights. So at a cost of A$550000 return it's been chartering elderly a QF B744 (often VH-OEB) to operate SYD - HNL - SYD.

MEL_Traveller asserts that even with all aircraft available, JQ may not be able to operate its published timetable in full.

I can't analyse it to that level of detail but the airline sure has a lot of cancellations. Its 'double daillies' ( a term I dislike) from MEL to DPS and back often see one return leg cancelled, while the MEL - HKT flights JQ17/JQ18 also seem to be candidates for the chopping block. Today (5 May) a B788 came in from SGN to MEL and has gone straight out on another international flight, such is the (lack of) fleet situation at present.

The twice weekly MEL - SIN JQ7/JQ8 is another return rotation that can be cancelled. Not so long ago, this ran daily if I recall, but QF bumped up QF37/QF38 so 'the 7' and 'the 8' of its subsidiary were reduced in frequency.

Pay peanuts? We know what one receives...

Yeah, I know I posted a few months back in the Delays and Cancellations thread on how it seems to me that JQ has far too many dramas with their 787’s. Seema like hardly a week goes by without one of their services being cancelled or majorly delayed.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

They gave up the MEL-SIN route to free up this 787-8

Has this been confirmed anywhere, or just speculation at this stage?

Despite the additional capacity from the parent - QF with the A380 flying to SIN ex MEL plus competition from scoot - you would think that JQ needs a SIN service to feed into all the 3K routes?

 

[Quickstatus]

The OOL port was chosen because it is the northern port of Australia so that people from MEL, SYD and Brisbane can connect from there. In fact, JQ49 and JQ50 starts and finishes in SYD.

I think OOL was chosen because they think South Koreans would go there. OOL is also a destination for Aussies rather than a oroginating port. There is only one international OOL service and that is JQ11/12 to NRT.

The way JQ has been able to get a 787 into OOL is by changing the return at NRT. So for example the 787 that operates CNS-NRT sometimes operates NRT-OOL.

How is a second JQi 787 going to get into OOL without being ferried. The suggestion that JQ49/50 will originate from SYD is not far fetched but this will stretch the limited 787 fleet even further. I suspect that the introduction of this service will mean the cancellation of some other JQi service.

 

[pangwen]

I think OOL was chosen because they think South Koreans would go there. OOL is also a destination for Aussies rather than a oroginating port. There is only one international OOL service and that is JQ11/12 to NRT.

The way JQ has been able to get a 787 into OOL is by changing the return at NRT. So for example the 787 that operates CNS-NRT sometimes operates NRT-OOL.

How is a second JQi 787 going to get into OOL without being ferried. The suggestion that JQ49/50 will originate from SYD is not far fetched but this will stretch the limited 787 fleet even further. I suspect that the introduction of this service will mean the cancellation of some other JQi service.

moa999 has posted a (preliminary?) schedule on AusBT: Jetstar to start direct flights between the Gold Coast and Seoul

 

[SOPOOR]

I hope there is going to be continual sales from.mel to sth Korea,
Definitely will be going if they do

 

[Himeno]

Could this be to get more data for QF?
QF has the SYD-ICN codeshare on OZ, they want to codeshare on CX HKG-ICN and SYD-ICN has been on the potential QF 787 list for a while.

 

[dajop]

Has this been confirmed anywhere, or just speculation at this stage?

Despite the additional capacity from the parent - QF with the A380 flying to SIN ex MEL plus competition from scoot - you would think that JQ needs a SIN service to feed into all the 3K routes?

Didn’t see any announcement, but search for JQ fares ex-MEL on Wednesdays and Sundays from Dec 8 and they are not there.

In addition to healthy origin/destination traffic, 3K gets daily feed from QF and EK - and even AY - at SIN, so probably no real need for feed to/from twice weekly JQ service.

 

[Coops1]

No more JQ7....only just found out

 

[Quickstatus]

No more JQ7....only just found out

The MEL-SIN route is a tough highly competitive market.

It was a matter of who was going to blink first. Scoot or Jetstar.

And Jetstar Asia can’t compete using A320 against Scoot 787.

 

[dajop]

The MEL-SIN route is a tough highly competitive market.

It was a matter of who was going to blink first. Scoot or Jetstar.

And Jetstar Asia can’t compete using A320 against Scoot 787.

I'm not sure it was a matter of Jetstar blinking first vs Scoot, more a matter of huge increase of capacity by QF (who went from 9 weekly A330 to 7 weekly A380 + 7 weekly A330) that absorbed a lot of the Jetstar pax. After all when QF and JQ are selling similar fares (which they were a lot of the time, at least on return basis), and following almost identical timetables, which will most people opt for? Also, Jetstar on this route had terrible reliability problems.