On November 27, Jetstar Airways took off from Perth to Manila. It marked the airline’s return to the Australia-to-Philippines market after more than a decade, when it operated from Darwin to Manila. The new route is bound to make my celebratory Weekly Routes article (see the latest edition).
Timed at up to seven hours and 25 minutes, the route from Western Australia has become Jetstar’s new longest nonstop service on the Airbus A321LR. However, in the southern winter of 2026, some LR-operated flights from Rarotonga back to Sydney will be timed at ten minutes longer. If you prefer distance, Perth-Manila only ranks as the airline’s third-longest narrowbody service. Regardless, they’re all shorter than some of Jetstar’s new one-stop LR flights.
Introducing Jetstar From Perth To Manila
Credit: Jetstar
Covering 2,790 nautical miles (5,167 km) each way, the low-cost carrier serves this route three times a week on the A321LR. According to ch-aviation, Jetstar has 21 of them, each in an all-economy, 232-seat configuration. Naturally, this high capacity helps to achieve very low seat-mile costs. This is critical and will help to overcome the relatively low yields on this route, partly from the nature of the demand and also from the schedule, which is influenced by Manila’s renowned chronic lack of slots.
Booking data for the 12 months to September 2025 suggests that around 70,000 round-trip local passengers flew to/from Manila, both nonstop and indirectly via a hub. Most travelers were Filipino diaspora. It was Perth’s tenth-largest Asian market for point-to-point passengers. Bali, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Tokyo, Phuket, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hong Kong had more traffic.
Jetstar is the second airline to fly between Perth and Manila. It joins Philippine Airlines, which arrived in Perth in 2023. It runs three times a week on the 168-seat A321LR. However, peak travel, such as around Christmas, sees up to a daily service.
Days
Jetstar: Perth-Manila; Local Times*
Days
Jetstar: Manila-Perth; Local Times**
Thursdays
9:10 pm-4:15 am+1 (7h 5m)
Fridays
5:35 am-1:00 pm (7h 25m)
Tuesdays, Sundays
10:55 pm-5:55 am+1 (7h)
Mondays, Wednesdays
6:55 am-2:00 pm (7h 5m)
* First week of December. In Simple Flying’s new time format
** First week of December. In Simple Flying’s new time format
Jetstar Now Has 5 International Routes From Perth
Credit: GCMap
The low-cost carrier has operated internationally from Perth for 17 years. Its debut took place in 2008, when Bali, Jakarta, and Singapore were served. Flights to Indonesia’s capital were scrapped in 2014, while those to Singapore ceased in 2010 in favor of the now-defunct Jetstar Asia. Changi flights returned to Jetstar’s Perth network in 2024, which was the same year it took off to Bangkok and Phuket.
Jetstar now has five international routes from Perth: Bali/Denpasar, Bangkok, Manila, Phuket, and Singapore. The A321LR is used on all of them. In the first week of December, Cirium Diio data shows that Bali is served 20 times weekly; Bangkok and Phuket run four times a week; and Manila and Singapore are both flown three times a week.
Jetstar has 34 weekly departing international flights in the examined seven days. This is the carrier’s highest frequency to date. Jetstar now accounts for 12% of Perth’s international services, and 14% to Asia.
Sticking with the first week of December, Perth is now the airline’s second-busiest airport for flights (regardless of equipment) to Asia. Only Melbourne has more (48), while Brisbane is almost neck and neck (33). The Queensland capital will gain its first Jetstar route to the Philippines next week.
Related
Over 17 Hours: Australia & New Zealand’s Longest Nonstop Flights
Five airlines operate eight airport pairs.
Brisbane Gets Cebu Flights In Early December
Credit: Flickr
On December 3, Jetstar will launch the first-ever nonstop service from Australia to Cebu, with a three-weekly A321LR operation from Brisbane. At 2,820 nautical miles (5,223 km) each way, it will be the airline’s new second-longest narrowbody route by distance. It’ll be longer than Perth to Manila. But timed at no more than 6h 45m, it will be ‘only’ the carrier’s fourth-longest LR service by time.
The fact that nonstop flights have not operated before is unsurprising. According to booking data, Cebu was only the 30th-largest Asian market from Brisbane in the 12 months to September 2025. It only had around 12,000 round-trip passengers. Jetstar will easily grow the market with nonstop flights and pretty attractive fares.
Of course, all of this somewhat misses the point. Passengers can easily connect to another flight in Brisbane to reach multiple other cities, particularly Sydney (33,000 passengers to/from Cebu), Melbourne (30,000), and Auckland (15,000). It will be counting on it.
