Jetstar ends Brisbane – Honolulu service

The weaker Australian dollar and competition from rival Hawaiian Airlines have taken their toll on Jetstar, with the low-cost carrier planning to abandon the Brisbane-Honolulu route from October to pursue more profitable flights to Bali and Phuket.
Jetstar’s customers tend to be more sensitive to currency swings that have made a Hawaiian holiday more expensive than the higher-end flyers served by parent Qantas on the Sydney-Honolulu route.
However, Jetstar will keep flying to Honolulu from Sydney, a larger market than Brisbane, and from Melbourne, where it is the only carrier offering non-stop flights.
“Despite the lower dollar, the Honolulu routes continue to perform well for both Qantas and Jetstar,” a Jetstar spokesman said on Friday. “But it’s fair to say we’ve seen a moderate dip in demand out of Brisbane and we believe it is the right time to move this capacity to Asia where more Australians want to travel.”
The low-cost carrier had announced the Brisbane route, then a Hawaiian Airlines monopoly, when the Australian dollar was worth around US95¢. However, the dollar had fallen to around US80¢ by the time it began flying in December 2014.
The number of Australians visiting Hawaii rose by 7.8 per cent to 333,998 last year despite the drop in the Australian dollar as air capacity rose, but spending per person per day fell by 7.5 per cent in US dollar terms.
“The biggest challenge we have [in marketing Hawaii] is the exchange rate,” Hawaii Tourism Oceania country manager Kerri Anderson said last month. “The increased price of a holiday to Hawaii is a real concern for people.”
In the month of January, visitor numbers from Australia rose by 2.6 per cent to 28,427, but spending was up 12.9 per cent primarily as a result of higher spending on hotel rooms. There was a 12.3 per cent decline in spending on shopping.
Hawaiian Airlines has recently reduced capacity on the Brisbane-Honolulu route in weaker seasons as a result of lower demand. The Hawaiian carrier last week promoted Brisbane-Honolulu flights from $854 return in economy class, while Sydney-Honoulu flights cost at least $969.
Jetstar was last week offering one-way fares from Brisbane to Honolulu from just $209 versus $229 from Sydney.
Jetstar has not yet decided if all of the new capacity to Bali and Phuket will be placed in the Brisbane market or spread across other markets.
“Demand for travel to Bali and Phuket is very strong out of Australia right now and we’re responding to this with additional capacity from the eastern seaboard,” the Jetstar spokesman said.
The Sydney Morning Herald