Fledgling airline OzJet has announced plans to become the newest aviation player to take to Western Australian skies, with a Perth-to-Melbourne service due to commence from March 6.
OzJet, owned by the former principal of the Minardi Formula One team Paul Stoddart, plans to operate one service in and out of Perth daily from Sunday to Friday.
In announcing the launch of the new service, Mr Stoddart said OzJet had decided on Perth because of feedback from the market, particularly people who had already flown OzJet on the Sydney-Melbourne route.
“We envisage flights arriving in Perth around 9.30 on each of those six nights, and then the eastern-bound service departing at 11.30 for an overnight flight,” Mr Stoddart said.
OzJet will operate from Terminal 3, the old Ansett Terminal in Perth, which has been updated and refurbished to include new food and beverage outlets, and will fly into Melbourne Airport.
It will fly Boeing 737 aircraft on the service configured to 60 full-business class seats.
One-way fares from Perth to Melbourne will start at $400 with a maximum fare of $800.
The OzJet announcement comes hard on the heels of last month’s news of Jetstar’s impending debut in WA.
Qantas-owned Jetstar will commence daily services on the Perth-Melbourne corridor, landing at Avalon east of Melbourne, from March 28 2006.
Jetstar will operate a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft on the service, and with OzJet brings the number of airlines servicing the route to four.
