Jetstar offers more deals than you can shake a parsnip at

Jetstar is gearing up for its biggest September school holiday since 2019, with more than 90,000 Kiwis expected to fly with the airline during the next two weeks.

The airline, which yesterday launched a wave of cut-rate fares starting at $30, says its on-time performance (OTP) for arrivals is at its best since before the pandemic hit. It says 82 per cent of flights arrived on time in August.

Figures from the Qantas subsidiary show it achieved its highest OTP for departures in New Zealand with 80.6 per cent of flights departing on time in August, the fourth month in a row of improvement. The OTP yardstick is departure within 15 minutes of schedule.

The airline’s domestic cancellation rate is now about 3 per cent. Although it hasn’t rebuilt its domestic services to pre-pandemic levels, it’s operating at slightly lower levels than pre-Covid but is looking for opportunities to expand its network.

Jetstar’s head of New Zealand Shelly Musk said that before the school holiday the airline had recruited more staff and made changes to its check-in, bag drop and boarding times to help flights get away on time.

“Last month we achieved our highest on-time performance in New Zealand in more than 12 months.

“Everyone at Jetstar is committed to improving our operations and ensuring customers have a great experience with us over the holidays.”

The number of passengers this school holiday is a 17 per cent increase on the same time last year, with more than 100 extra flights added to the schedule during the peak to help meet demand. The busiest days for travel were expected to be yesterday and next Friday.

The most popular domestic route is Auckland to Queenstown, followed by Auckland to Christchurch, while its most popular transtasman route is Auckland-Gold Coast, followed by Auckland Sydney and Auckland-Melbourne.

Jetstar’s transtasman schedule now includes 10 per cent more flights than pre-pandemic levels.

Jetstar on Thursday took a thinly veiled pop at Air New Zealand (which has more than 80 per cent of the domestic market) by launching a pop-up store in Auckland with one “rather bland” item on the menu — raw parsnips.

Named Parsnip Place, the freeto-enter shop promises customers an “utterly bland experience”.

Jetstar says the light-hearted installation aims to demonstrate the importance of choice in travel.

It says “the world’s most boring pop-up” is a comedic look into life with only one choice in the market.

Open to the public at 242 Broadway in Newmarket, Jetstar is inviting the curious to head down and experience Parsnip Place for themselves.

While the menu is limited, the low-cost carrier will be dishing out plenty of flight vouchers for winning customers to use towards their destination of choice.

Jetstar has announced a special parsnip trip sale with “choice deals”.

One-way domestic fares will be available from $30 (Christchurch to Wellington), and one-way international fares from $139 (Auckland to Sydney). Most flights are for the next two months.