Low cost carrier Jetstar Asia has always been the little sister of Australia-based Jetstar--itself the child of Qantas. But now Jetstar Asia is preparing to cut the apron strings and step out into the budget airline world a little more independently.
At the same time, Jetstar Asia is ramping up its offerings. First up will be a route between Singapore and the newly vertical Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. There'll be daily flights, some of them also heading to Siem Reap, the stop for sightseeing target Angkor Wat.
Seems right that the slightly rebel child will head off to such a typical backpackers' destination.
Aussie LCC Jetstar is talking up its new flights into Indonesia, after a week of complaints about its decision to switch its Japanese route to land in the Gold Coast instead of Brisbane.
Trying to put that controversy behind them, Jetstar is crowing about new routes running from Perth to Bali and Perth to Jakarta. The Western Australia to Indonesia route is a pretty busy one, and getting tickets at the discount fare of A$179 ($168, one way) is a pretty good deal.
But Jetstar does seem to be forgetting one thing. The LCC's parent company Qantas already said it would spin these routes to Jetstar as part of a cost-cutting drive. So flying into Bali is really just a consolation prize, right?
Big things are happening in the realm of Japanese air travel. Bloomberg reported just this morning that Tokyo's Haneda airport--which dropped most of its international air traffic after Narita opened in 1978--will have twice as many flights as originally planned after a fourth runway opens in 2010.
As many as 30,000 slots per year will serve Asian cities like Seoul and Hong Kong, while another 30,000 will be allotted primarily for red-eye flights to Europe and other world destinations. Even better? The government is planning a high-speed rail link between Narita and Haneda, also to be completed by 2010, making Tokyo a powerhouse international hub.
Meanwhile, Australian LCC Jetstar is switching up its long-haul flight to and from Osaka: Brisbane is out and the Gold Coast (OOL) is in. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Queensland's largest city just isn't doing it for Japanese tourists:
Strong trade industry support in Japan and Australia led to the change, Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said.
"The reason we've done this is very straightforward--it's market driven," he said. "Over 75% of the Japanese customers who fly on this route, their end destination is the Gold Coast."
We're beginning to think we may never fly on one of Boeing's new Dreamliners. The company announced this morning that it's yet again pushing back the debut of its fancy, fuel-efficient 787s, saying it'll get them off the ground by the end of 2008. That means the first commercial flights won't happen until well into 2009.
The news is sad for plane geeks like us, but it could be worse. Some airlines, like Australia's Jetstar, have tied their expansion plans to the 787. No new planes means no new routes--and no new cash rolling in.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are also among the carriers affected. No doubt all three airlines are hoping this is the last of the game-killing delays.
Qantas offshoot and LCC Jetstar has made more of a habit of hitting our headlines with good news than bad--they have mystery shoppers to keep standards high, and the airline wants us to be able to fly long haul from Oz to Europe on the cheap.
Of course, a bad news headline was waiting just around the corner: An ex-flight attendant claims that while she was a passenger on a flight from Sydney to Phuket, the Aussie soldiers sitting near her spiked her bottle of water while she was in the bathroom. She passed out, wet herself, and came to an hour later, in her words, "mortified and devastated".
We're not sure what's going on here, but the odd part is that she didn't complain to the airline--she just told a television network. Jetstar says they only have a record of her falling ill and being cared for in a curtained-off crew area. Whatever the real story, we might just be taking our water bottles with us to the bathroom in future.
Qantas off-shoot and low cost carrier Jetstar has become one of the world's fastest growing budget airlines--its growth is now faster than big European performers EasyJet and RyanAir. Being keen for things to stay that way, Jetstar is making a big deal about how much it's doing to make sure its customers are served well.
That's why the airline has a mystery shopper program. Since late last year, "fake flyers" on both Australian and international routes have been zipping across the skies, unbeknownst to the flight staff, and giving feedback to Jetstar about their service from check-in through to arrival and baggage collection.
An external company sends in the mystery passengers, but unfortunately their feedback is confidential. Jetstar only wants to make a big deal about the fact that these mystery shoppers exist, not what they actually think.
Despite sounding more like a weight loss plan than a cheap airfare, we're still happy to hear about the new Jetsaver Light deals that Qantas spin-off and Aussie LCC Jetstar has come up with.
Like RyanAir, Jetstar has figured out that passengers who don't check any baggage are a whole lot cheaper to deal with. But unlike the RyanAir method of punishing their suitcase-carrying customers with ever-increasing extra charges, Jetstar has done the opposite and is offering the Light fares to passengers who only want to take carry on luggage. That means that people wanting to fly domestic Australian routes with just 10 kg or less of hand baggage will get a $10 discount, and on routes to Asia the fare will be $20 cheaper.
To celebrate the Jetstar Light deal, the airline is doing a bit of a publicity sale with 5,000 seats being sold for just one (Australian) cent each, including taxes (!). They're just for six of the domestic routes, but you can't complain much for just a cent.
So much action in the flight routes of Australasia, so little time to fly every one of them. Big news this week came as Singapore and Malaysia finally opened up a route between the countries to competition. Until now, this flight has cost around $320, a crazy amount for just 55 minutes in the air.
There are plenty of potential takers for budget flights on the KL to Singapore route, with Tiger Airways (a 49% subsidiary of Singapore Airlines) and Qantas offshoot Jetstar already putting their hands up. AirAsia, a Malaysian low cost carrier, is also part of the market, with two flights per day on the route. It's now possible to grab tickets for only the cost of the airport taxes and charges.
And while the liberalization of this route is only partial--just four flights per day have been allocated to the budget carriers--the experts are predicting the traffic will triple within the next two years. The good news is that more openings of Southeast Asian routes should follow by the end of this year, which means we can fly more often and more cheaply. We're going to need some more time off work.
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by amandak
