Jetstar celebrating the success of Nelson route
On the second anniversary of Jetstar flying into Nelson, the company’s New Zealand boss has thanked customers whose support has kept them in the air.
Daniel Banens said there was ‘‘no doubt’’ Jetstar had some ‘‘teething problems’’ at first, but now it had built a loyal customer base, and he was ‘‘really happy with where we are now.’’
‘‘Customer satisfaction is at a record high,’’ despite the ‘‘lingering perception’’ of poor service which still taints the company’s reputation.
Jetstar chose Nelson for its growing population, the potential growth in their market, and because they knew Air New Zealand had a monopoly.
Nelson is now Jetstar’s most popular domestic destination, for both New Zealanders and tourists, and shows no signs of slowing.
Communications manager Phil Boeyen said Jetstar’s dedication to low fares had changed the way people travel. In the past year, over 170,000 people travelled with them for less than $50.
‘‘People can go to events, not just shows or festivals, but family events. People are going to birthdays that they would never have gone to before, because it was too expensive,’’ he said.
Banens said people sometimes told him personal stories about how the fares helped them.
‘‘One man, a widower whose family lived in Auckland, he said he would usually only visit them two or three times a year, but with Jetstar he was able to visit them every two weeks.’’
He said Jetstar also appealed to younger travellers, who want fewer frills.
‘‘We’re finding with the millennial market, they don’t want lounges or points; they want low fares, to be on time, and they want to use the money they saved on tickets to spend at their destination,’’
Banens said there were no immediate plans to expand their regional flight list at the moment, but he was ‘‘always assessing possible new routes’’.