By James Wilkinson

Qantas has used the 2009 Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) to announce new Jetstar flights to Bali and increased Airbus A380 flights to London and Los Angeles.

Qantas has announced extra A380 services

Qantas group executive – commercial, Rob Gurney, said the airline would take delivery of three new Airbus A380 aircraft before the end of the year, which would then be deployed on key routes.

“Our fourth A380 arrives at the end of July, allowing us to increase Sydney-Singapore-London A380 services from three to five per week, and Sydney-Los Angeles services from three to four per week,” he said. “The arrival of our fifth and sixth aircraft later in the year will mean further increases in services to these key destinations.

“By November Qantas will operate daily A380 services to London and Los Angeles from Sydney and will increase Melbourne-Los Angeles services from two to three A380 flights per week.

“By the end of 2009 this year Qantas will operate 34 services per week between Australia and the UK and US with its A380 fleet,” Gurney said.

Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan said Bali flights from Perth would be increased to daily (from four per week) from August 13.

The move comes as competition heats up on the route, with Virgin Blue having launched Pacific Blue flights in late 2008 and Air Asia recently announcing direct services between the two cities.

At the press conference, Buchanan also announced a key marketing initiative with Tourism New South Wales, which will see the airline and the government body partner over three years to promote key destinations.

 “Low fares are a real driver of market stimulation and by working collaboratively with strong and committed partners such as Tourism NSW we have a real opportunity to co-operatively market North Coast NSW and Sydney to value savvy consumers,” he said.

“North and Far North Coast NSW and Sydney all represent critical ports within the Jetstar network with substantial direct domestic and international links.

“We are continuing to incrementally grow low fares services to the region, particularly with more trans Tasman and Japan flights for the Gold Coast being added this year to support our significant investment in this exciting partnership agreement,” he said.