Jetstar Airways has announced it is ending its regional Bombardier Q300 turboprop services in New Zealand by the end of November 2019, citing losses in operating the routes.

"The New Zealand regional market is facing some headwinds, with softer demand and higher fuel costs and we don’t see the outlook changing any time soon. As a result, we’re announcing a proposal today to end our regional services, with the final flights on 30 November this year,” Jetstar Airways CEO Gareth Evans said.

Jetstar began flying to the regional centres in December 2015.

The Australian low-cost airline plans to suspend 130 weekly frequencies across five routes including Auckland to Nelson, Napier, Plymouth and Palmerston North as well as service between Nelson and Wellington.

“We have given it a real go. However, despite four years of hard work, including becoming the most on-time of the two major regional airlines and having high customer satisfaction, our regional network continues to be loss-making," Evans said.

The carrier, however, plans to continue up to 270 weekly domestic jet frequencies between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown and up to 100 international weekly on the Tasman and to Rarotonga.

“We are fully committed to our domestic jet services. It’s business as usual for the rest of our New Zealand operation," he added.

Jetstar also announced it will double its Queenstown to Wellington services to six per week by the end of October as the airline remains committed to continue looking at opportunities for domestic trunk routes and international destinations.

The airline will today begin a consultation process with about 70 affected employees on the proposal and expected to announce a final decision before the end of October.

The airline said alternative employment options would be made available for all affected Jetstar regional employees across Jetstar and Qantas Group both in New Zealand and Australia.