Air Transport

Qantas Airways' low-cost carrier is launching Airbus A320 services between Melbourne and Sydney.

On 25 October Jetstar will launch a five-times-daily Airbus A320 service between Melbourne Tullamarine and Sydney, says Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.

Tullamarine is Melbourne's main airport and Jetstar has been operating A320s from Melbourne Avalon to Sydney and, according to Innovata, it has been operating Airbus A330s from Melbourne Tullamarine to Sydney.

Joyce says Qantas mainline "will continue to operate 32 daily flights between Sydney and Melbourne" Tullamarine and "Jetstar will also continue to fly out of Avalon with four daily flights to Sydney, down from seven."

Jetstar is able to launch more A320 services because it has A320s on order.

The carrier also announced today that it is adding four more Airbus A330-200s on lease with the first to come in November 2010.

Jetstar's move to launch A320 services on the Melbourne-Sydney route comes after low-cost carrier Tiger Airways on 3 July launched A320 services on that route.

It also comes after Qantas earlier this year reduced its services on the route to 30 flights a day, citing the global economic downturn.