By: steve rowell - 11th April 2006 at 10:53
As a lo-co with a lower cost base perhaps they could make them profitable
NO-frills airline Jetstar has pledged significantly cheaper fares to Asia and the Pacific when it starts international flights in November.
Jetstar International will fly from Melbourne to Bali, Bangkok and Honolulu.
The Qantas subsidiary will also offer services to Vietnam, Honolulu and Japan from Sydney, and to Japan from Brisbane.
Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said the launch of Jetstar International would provide an extra 550 jobs by mid-2007, most of them located at its Melbourne base.
“Jetstar will be grown aggressively over the next three years while we continue to expand Qantas’s international operations,” he said.
As reported in the Herald Sun yesterday, Jetstar will take over some routes now run by Qantas’s other leisure carrier, Australian Airlines.
Australian will be merged into the Qantas brand from July, costing about 40 cabin crew jobs in Cairns.
In Victoria, Jetstar’s new international flights will leave from Melbourne airport; but the airline’s CEO, Alan Joyce, said Avalon, near Geelong, would be considered for overseas services later.
“We are talking to (airport owner) Linfox about the potential there, and we’ll keep an eye on it,” he said.
Jetstar, which will get new-generation Boeing 787 aircraft from 2008, is expected to launch flights to the US and Europe in 2011.
Mr Joyce said its Asia-Pacific fares would be revealed in June, including launch prices not seen before on those routes.
The Melbourne schedule will be two weekly services to Honolulu and Bali and three a week to Bangkok.
Unlike its domestic operation, Jetstar International will have assigned seating and two cabin classes.
It will start flying with six Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Mr Joyce said the Melbourne head office would grow from 120 to 170 staff and the city would get a pilot and a crew base for its international services.
Jetstar also wanted a crew base in Asia, he said.
“We want some cultural dimensions to the service and some Asian crew,” he said.
By: wozza - 11th April 2006 at 09:54
The thing I don’t get is why would Jetstar want to take on loss making services ?
As a lo-co with a lower cost base perhaps they could make them profitable
By: Ren Frew - 11th April 2006 at 09:24
The thing I don’t get is why would Jetstar want to take on loss making services ?
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April 11, 2006 at 7:54 am