Qantas flight reductions to have minimal impact in WA

Changes to Qantas international flight schedules appear to have little impact on Western Australian routes, according to Tourism Minister Sheila McHale.

Ms McHale welcomed the announcement that Jetstar would establish a new base for pilots and cabin crew in Perth from October.

Qantas released a statement yesterday that it would reduce a number of international services later this year with South East Asia and Japan the most affected markets.

However, the Minister said these flight reductions mainly impacted on the eastern seaboard and WA would be largely unaffected by the changes.

“The replacement of Qantas by Jetstar, an important leisure airline, on the Perth-Denpasar and the Perth-Jakarta routes would, in fact, mean a slight increase in capacity on these routes,” she said.

“From December, Qantas will replace their B737-800 service on these routes with the larger A320 Jetstar aircraft.”

Ms McHale also said that it was pleasing that Qantas had acknowledged the importance of the Perth-Japan route by maintaining the service.