Budget airline Jetstar to hire new staff and move aircraft to Adelaide to expand flights out of South Australia

BUDGET airline Jetstar will establish a new cabin crew and pilot base in Adelaide in order to offer more flights.

BUDGET airline Jetstar will establish a cabin crew and pilot base in Adelaide in order to offer more flights.

The company will hire up to 120 staff and base four A320 aircraft in Adelaide from March 30 next year as part of a major overhaul. However, some jobs will be filled by staff transferred from interstate.

Jetstar Australia and New Zealand CEO David Hall said the base would enable the airline to offer one extra flight daily between both Melbourne and Adelaide and Sydney and Adelaide.

The announcement comes as the airline begins direct services from Adelaide to Auckland and non-stop flights from Adelaide to Bali this month.

But the number of weekly services in and out of Darwin will be cut and 93 flight attendant and pilot jobs also will be axed in Darwin as part of the overhaul.

Qantas says this is in response to "increased capacity and competition", particularly on international routes.

The move follows the announcement last week that Qantas - which owns Jetstar - was planning to cut 1000 jobs.

SA Tourism Industry Council chief executive Ward Tilbrook welcomed the extra services for Adelaide.

"Direct flights, more seats and more jobs can only help South Australia achieve a greater slice of the tourism pie," he said.

Jetstar will begin recruiting 40 pilots, 70 cabin crew and a dozen ground staff from tomorrow.

Mr Hall said some positions would be filled by transferring staff from other bases.

Three of the aircraft to be based in Adelaide will be transferred from Darwin and the fourth from Melbourne.

"Basing four aircraft at Adelaide will allow us to expand our schedule," Mr Hall said.

"Our presence in Adelaide has more than doubled in the past four years and we believe the establishment of a dedicated crew base will provide a solid foundation to continue to grow low fares from the capital of South Australia.

"Next year we look forward to celebrating ten years of continuous flying to and from Adelaide."

Tourism Minister Leon Bignell said the Government had been working with Adelaide Airport to open up air access into South Australia.

"Since last November, we've seen Emirates, Air Asia X and now Jetstar commence direct international services into Adelaide, with Singapore Airlines also putting on additional weekly flights," he said.

"We've experienced an 83 per cent increase in international seats into South Australia during the past two years which has made Adelaide Airport the fastest growing airport in the country."

Mr Bignell said he expected the number of visitors to Adelaide to continue growing at "double-digit" rates.

Jetstar operates up to 88 domestic services each week from Adelaide.

This month it added up to six international departures per week to Bali and Auckland.