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Qantas has applied to the International Air Services Commission (IASC) for a major increase in capacity on the Indonesia route, as well as further fifth freedom rights to carry passengers beyond Indonesia.
Qantas has applied for an additional 3898 seats each week between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth and Indonesia, which it says would allow Jetstar to operate more services with both A320s and A330, although its application doesn’t identify any proposed new services. It is also seeking an additional 727 seats and four frequencies per week beyond Indonesia.
The application appears to be a move to take the lions’ share of a recent increase of 4000 seat available seats per week on the Indonesia route, and as such is likely to be disputed by Pacific Blue and Strategic Airlines which also operate services to Indonesia, specifically Denpasar. Strategic Airlines’ head of commercial recently told Australian Aviation in an interview that his airline would be likely to seek additional capacity on the route if and when it became available.
The application for additional fifth freedom rights beyond Indonesia comes after Jetstar Asia lost some of its traffic rights on the Jakarta-Singapore route, with seven weekly slots allocated to competitor Tiger Airways. Jetstar already operates twice weekly services between Jakarta and Singapore utilising Australian fifth freedom rights, and it is expected that the additional rights will help to make up some of the capacity lost from Jetstar Asia.
