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Jetstar to connect Seoul with Gold Coast
May 10th 2019
Jetstar to tackle Qantas Group’s final Asian frontier. Read More »
Jetstar will open a seasonal three weekly service between Queensland's Gold Coast and Seoul from December 2019 to February 2020. This will see the Qantas Group return to Korea for the first time since 2006 when Qantas withdrew Seoul charters.
Jetstar will serve the market with its existing 787-8 fleet, which has been re-jigged over the years while aircraft count remains flat. Current Qantas Group capital expenditure priority is to Qantas mainline.
The route announcement was accompanied by a codeshare agreement with Jeju Air, Korea’s largest LCC. Jeju will help boost awareness of the flight from Jetstar, which has low visibility in Korea. Jetstar’s Asian units do not serve Seoul.
Jeju Air was one of the founders of the Value Alliance, which was partially established to counter LCC groups like AirAsia and Jetstar. While there is practicality for the Jeju-Jetstar bilateral partnership, it has been asked if Jeju should instead sell Australia via other Value members, such as Scoot and Cebu Pacific.
The codeshare agreement comes as Asia’s LCC alliances Value and U-Fly have lost momentum. U-Fly’s website no longer works and the alliance is all but terminated.
Australia and New Zealand are not as popular destinations in Korea as they are for Japan. Qantas and Air New Zealand (Air NZ) have extensive Japanese flying. Air NZ in April announced a new flight to Seoul.
