Australian budget carrier Jetstar today announced that fares for its thrice-weekly Sydney-Kuala Lumpur flights will start from about RM500 one way.

The first flight is due to take off from Sydney on Sept 9.

Economy class fares will start from RM88 one way while surcharges, fees and taxes will add at least RM409.50, Jetstar said in a statement released to state news agency Bernama .

By comparison, a regular Kuala Lumpur-Sydney return fare in September quoted by a travel agent to AFP was about RM2,900.

Jetstar, the budget offshoot of Australian flag carrier Qantas, will initially operate Airbus A330-200s for its flights to Kuala Lumpur before moving to a fleet of 15 new Boeing 787s from August next year.

The budget carrier serves several international routes from Australia including Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, Denpasar in Bali and Osaka in Japan. It will commence flights Nagoya next month.

Its unit Jetstar Asia flies to nine countries from Singapore.