Jetstar 787s to fly the Tasman over summer

Jetstar 787-8, VH-VKI, at Melbourne Airport on February 8 2015. (Victor Pody)

Jetstar says it will deploy Boeing 787-8 widebodies across the Tasman for seven weeks over the busy summer holidays.

The Qantas-owned low-cost carrier says the Dreamliner is scheduled to fly on Mondays on the Melbourne-Auckland and Auckland-Sydney routes from the middle of December 2015 to the end of January 2016.

Jetstar, which took delivery of its first Dreamliner in October 2013, currently had 10 787-8s in its fleet. The final airframe was due to join the fleet by September.

The airline used the 787-8 across the Tasman shortly after introducing the aircraft into its fleet, with three times a week service on the Melbourne-Auckland route during February/March 2014 to build crew experience on the new Boeing twinjet..

Meanwhile, Jetstar is also adding extra flights from Australia to Queenstown and Christchurch over the coming Christmas/New Year period.

“Queenstown is truly a year-round holiday destination and we’re recognising that by adding a significant number of extra seats this summer,” Jetstar head of New Zealand Grant Kerr said in a statement on Thursday.

“This complements the additional flying we added during the ski season this year.”