Qantas offshoot flying Tasman from Christchurch

Jetstar has begun services across the Tasman, yesterday making its first flight from Christchurch to Australia.

The low-fare, low-cost arm of Qantas has taken over many of the services from Christchurch previously flown by its parent - which offered food, drink and the frills of a full-service airline.

Chief executive Alan Joyce said he did not think people saw the arrival of Jetstar as a downgrading of the Qantas service.

The aircraft were newer than those flying the route, had wide, leather seats and passengers could pay for personal movie players, food and wine.

Jetstar will use its fleet of two Airbus A320s to fly from Christchurch to Sydney (10 times weekly return), Melbourne (nine times weekly return), daily to Brisbane (seven times weekly return) and, from tomorrow, will start twice-a-week direct return services to the Gold Coast.

Joyce said many routes in Australia were flown by both airlines, with the different brands appealing to different people.

The idea was to divide up market share on routes between the different brands, not just having Qantas fighting for share with rival Virgin Blue.

There were no immediate plans to expand Jetstar routes across the Tasman and the initial year of operations was designed to "bed in" the business. Forward bookings on the routes showed that a large number of Australian tourists would spend their summer holidays here.

Joyce said Qantas had not been making money on the routes, which were seasonal. Jetstar crew and engineers are based in Christchurch.