There’s good news for flight capacity and hopefully fares for Western Australia-loving Singapore residents next year, with the long-awaited return of a fourth airline flying between Changi Airport and Perth Airport from mid-2024, as Jetstar restarts direct services on the city pair.

The Qantas Group low-cost airline has announced that it will operate its new 232-seat Airbus A321neo aircraft three times per week on the route from August 2024, increasing to six times weekly from September 2024.

That’s good news all-round, since it will also bring additional frequencies and seat capacity to the route, with 53 weekly services to choose from.

That should hopefully see some more cost-effective travel options on this route, which has suffered from high fares as capacity growth has been slow to keep up with demand post-COVID.

Jetstar Singapore – Perth schedule

Jetstar’s new non-stop Perth flights will operate from the carrier’s new Singapore base of operations at Changi Airport Terminal 4, and will use Terminal 1 at the Perth end of the journey.

Here’s how the initial schedule looks during August 2024.

Singapore Perth
1 Aug 2024 – 2 Sep 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	JQ96 A321neo
SIN 06:55		PER 12:20
	JQ99 A321neo
PER 23:35		SIN 04:55*

* Next day

Flights then ramp up to six times weekly from September 2024 onwards.

Singapore Perth
From 3 Sep 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	JQ96 A321neo
SIN 06:55		PER 12:20
	JQ98 A321neo
SIN 14:15		PER 19:40
	JQ97 A321neo
PER 07:35		SIN 12:55
	JQ99 A321neo
PER 23:35		SIN 04:55*

* Next day

Overall there will be six times weekly Jetstar operation on this route by September 2024, with two different timings offered depending on the day of the week.

Only Sundays will not see the carrier offer a Singapore – Perth service, while in the return direction there will be no Perth – Singapore option on Mondays.

Other carriers operating on the Singapore – Perth route next year are:

• Qantas: 7 times weekly
• Scoot: 12 times weekly
• Singapore Airlines: 28 times weekly

Jetstar Airways (JQ) previously operated daily Singapore – Perth flights via Bali until March 2020 using 180-seat Airbus A320ceo aircraft, but the route that was then suspended due to the pandemic.

Singapore-based Jetstar Asia (3K) operated up to four times weekly Singapore – Perth – Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane flights (remember those?) between March and May 2022, a route it had not served since March 2018, but the link proved short-lived.

Jetstar A321neo

These new flights will be operated by Australia’s Jetstar Airways (JQ) using its new Airbus A321neo aircraft type, which first entered service with the airline in August 2022.

These aircraft have 232 seats in an all-Economy Class 3-3 layout.

Each seat has a flip-down smartphone and tablet cradle, and a complimentary USB-A charging socket. Entertainment can be streamed to your personal device for an additional charge.

It’s worth noting that Scoot does not offer at-seat device charging on its Airbus A321neo aircraft also flying between Singapore and Perth, while on Boeing 787s deployed on selected services at-seat power is chargeable in Economy Class (at S$7 per sector on Singapore – Perth flights).

Fares and award seats

Jetstar is offering some competitive fares for this reinstated route. For travel in September 2024, we found Singapore to Perth flights priced at S$142 and AU$159 (around S$142) in the return direction from Perth to Singapore.

Over similar dates, lowest Economy Class fares on other carriers are currently quite a bit higher:

• Scoot
  S$186 (SIN-PER)
  S$214 (PER-SIN)
• Qantas
  S$678 (SIN-PER)
  S$428 (PER-SIN)
  S$662 (SIN-PER-SIN)
• Singapore Airlines
  S$566 (SIN-PER)
  S$757 (PER-SIN)
  S$899 (SIN-PER-SIN)

You can also redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points for Jetstar flights, but at 18,000 one-way from Singapore to Perth, with a whopping S$127 in taxes and fees payable on top of that, it’s definitely not worth doing so – unless the one-way fare increases to something like S$450 or more.

By that stage though, award seats on Jetstar flights don’t tend to be available – so it’s a moot point.

As usual, save your miles for full-service Business Class awards where possible for best value.

Jetstar in Singapore

Jetstar’s flights from Singapore are operated by two airlines; Singapore-based Jetstar Asia (3K) and Australia’s Jetstar Airways (JQ).

Perth will be Jetstar’s 15th destination from Singapore.

Operated by
Jetstar Asia (3K)

• Bali
• Bangkok
• Haikou
• Jakarta
• Kuala Lumpur
• Manila
• Okinawa
• Osaka
• Penang
• Phnom Penh
• Phuket
• Surabaya
• Wuxi (from 28 Dec ’23)

Operated by
Jetstar Airways (JQ)

• Melbourne
• Perth (from 1 Aug ’24)

Record capacity for the Singapore – Perth route

Whether you’re a fan of low-cost airlines or not, Jetstar’s new Perth flights will bring some much-needed fresh seat capacity back to this route, which as of January 2024 will stand at only 86% of pre-COVID (January 2020) levels.

Coupled with a delayed and still incomplete return to the Perth market by carriers like Garuda, Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific, that’s caused Singapore flights to suffer from high fares and poor award redemption availability since travel restrictions were lifted, simply as a function of supply versus demand.

The good news is that once these Jetstar flights are up and running at six times weekly later next year, there will be 53 direct flights from Singapore to Perth each week, with 16,191 seats between them, which will represent 109% of pre-COVID seat capacity.

Here’s how October 2024 operation on the Singapore – Perth route will look across all airlines, compared to October 2019.

Singapore – Perth Seat Capacity

Airline	Seats per week (SIN-PER)		Change
	October 2019	October 2024
Jetstar	1,260	1,392	10%
Qantas	1,897	1,897
Scoot	2,710	3,942	45%
Singapore Airlines	8,960	8,960
Total	14,827	16,191	9%

As you can see, it’s the low-cost carriers adding the most additional seats on Singapore – Perth flights, with Scoot and Jetstar offering 45% and 10% more capacity respectively on the route in October 2024, compared to pre-COVID levels.

Capacity between Singapore and Perth will finally return to (and indeed exceed) pre-COVID levels from later next year, thanks to the reintroduction of direct flights by Jetstar from August 2024.

By September 2024, the carrier will fly six times weekly on the route, supplementing services by Scoot, Qantas and Singapore Airlines.

These flights will use the airline’s new Airbus A321neo aircraft, with 232 seats in Economy Class, which also benefit from complimentary at-seat USB power sockets and, for the time being at least, among the lowest fares.

(Cover Photo: Jetstar)