THE Jetstar service between Darwin and Tokyo has been delayed.
Passengers can still fly to Manila but the onward leg to Japan has been put on hold following an unprecedented two challenges by Philippine Airlines.
Jetstar said it hoped to start operating the service ‘‘as soon as possible’’.
The airline said it would contact passengers and offer them an alternative route.
Several passengers were shocked to find they couldn’t get farther than Manila.
John Carroll, of Nightcliff, said he was told that the Tokyo leg of his journey had been cancelled only 24 hours before he was due to leave. He said missing a railway connection had cost him a lot of money.
Shane Davidson said he had already checked in online when Jetstar telephoned him to say the Japan flight had been cancelled.
‘‘ You can imagine our disappointment as we were sitting in our lounge room, bags packed, ready to go,’’ Mr Davidson said.
‘‘ Our young daughter had been learning Japanese, but there was no words, English or other, to describe her disappointment at not going to see Mini Mouse at Tokyo Disney.’’
Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas, announced in January that it was scrapping its service to Vietnam.
But it softened the news by saying it would start a Darwin to Tokyo service from last Sunday.
Qantas boss Alan Joyce yesterday announced plans to launch a discount carrier in China, called Jetstar Hong Kong. The new airline, to be jointly operated by China Eastern, will take off by mid-2013 with three aircraft, growing to a fleet of 18 by 2015.
Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said Jetstar Hong Kong would be something else for the Chinese to love about Australia ‘‘other than iron ore’’.