Milestone In Aviation

Newcastle Herald

Monday January 16, 2006

By GREG WENDT Business Editor

IN a red-letter day for the Hunter's aviation industry, a Jetstar 177-seat Airbus A320 will touch down for the first time at Newcastle Airport tonight.

Jetstar flight JQ 380 is scheduled to arrive at Williamtown from Melbourne at 8pm, beginning a new era in air passenger services in the region.

Newcastle will be the national base for Jetstar's fleet of 23 A320s, which will be phased in to replace the carrier's Boeing 717 aircraft by June.

The expansion of the $29 million heavy maintenance plant at Williamtown to accommodate the larger Airbus is expected to be completed in March.

Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said all heavy maintenance for the A320 fleet would be carried out at the national engineering base, creating 50 jobs.

Construction had begun at the site, next to Newcastle Airport terminal, to expand the hangar and retool the plant.

Mr Joyce said the A320 flying into Newcastle Airport represented a significant boost in seats offered by Jetstar for its direct Hunter Region services.

The phasing out of the carrier's remaining five Boeing 717 services on its direct Newcastle-Melbourne route and Newcastle-Brisbane services would be complete by June.

Most flights on both routes would convert to the A320 from March 26.

"Seat capacity on Jetstar's Newcastle-Brisbane and Newcastle-Melbourne services will collectively rise by 2600 seats per week as a result of the full transition of Boeing 717 flights to the larger Airbus on these routes," Mr Joyce said.

"Our decision to commence the transition of the A320 into our Newcastle flight operations and the net boost to seat availability on the two major air routes now servicing the Hunter should continue to underpin strong passenger growth at Newcastle Airport."