Jetstar Airlines, the Low Cost Carrier subsidiary of Qantas Australia's largest airline, commenced a daily Melbourne-Singapore-Beijing service on November 24th 2011. Jetstar believe this service will make Beijing an affordable holiday destination for more Australians as well as encourage more tourists to Australia.
Australia is home to an estimated 200,000 Chinese-born residents, with 50,000 living in Victoria. Jetstar advise the new route is expected to contribute to a continued increase in tourists from China to Australia, with Melbourne Airport reporting a 27 per cent jump in Chinese passport arrivals during the past year.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy welcomed the new route, saying Australian businesses were working hard to capitalise “on the big inbound growth opportunities in China and Asia”.“The region’s fast growing markets are playing a critical part in achieving our industry’s 2020 tourism goals,” Mr McEvoy said."This latest route also strengthens the air links between Australia and Singapore, which remains one of our stand-out South East Asian markets, surpassing 300,000 visitor arrivals last year," he added.
Beijing is the Jetstar Group’s 10th destination in China. The airline flies to a total of 15 international destinations from Australia with almost 60 destinations across its Pan Asian network. Jetstar will operate an Airbus A330 on its Singapore-Beijing service, configured for 303 passengers across business and economy classes. Jetstar will be the first low cost carrier to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which will gradually replace its A330s from mid-2013.
http://www.jetstar.com/mediacentre/latest-announcements/detail?Id=af89e2fd-3292-411b-b628-e6d92de7cfbe&language=en for full copy of press release.