iscover
Jetstar has officially launched its new route from Melbourne to Fiji with an early-morning departure over the weekend.
Flight JQ121 to Nadi took off at 6:52am on Saturday on board the A321neo VH-OFW, arriving at 12:10pm local time before returning to Melbourne as JQ122 at 1:54pm. The service, which operates three times per week, is expected to carry 72,000 passengers per year.
Jetstar will operate Melbourne–Nadi on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, with its existing Sydney–Nadi service also moving to three times per week, operating as JQ119/120 on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Jetstar will compete with Virgin Australia and Fiji Airways on the Melbourne–Nadi route.
Announcing the service in July, Jetstar’s chief customer officer, Alan McIntyre, said the airline had seen strong demand from Melbourne travellers since the relaunch of the Sydney route.
“Fiji is a hugely popular destination for Australians, and with interest continuing to grow, we’re offering more than 70,000 great low fare seats each year between Melbourne and Fiji. We thank Melbourne Airport for its support of the new route.”
Jim Parashos, chief of aviation at Melbourne Airport, said at the time that he expects the route to be well-travelled by Victorians.
“Travel demand to tropical destinations like Fiji is an at all-time high since international borders reopened,” said Parashos.
“Melbourne is Australia’s largest city by population, and we’re glad to see Jetstar recognise our strong outbound demand by adding more capacity.”
Jetstar plans to add more than 100,000 international seats from Melbourne in 2024.
