FILE PHOTO: Travelers wait in line at a Jetstar Airways counter at Kingsford Smith International Airport, following the coronavirus outbreak, in Sydney, Australia, March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo
SINGAPORE: As it gets ready to celebrate its 20th year in Singapore, Jetstar Asia intends to enhance its niche as a low-cost carrier (LCC) offering flights to unique regional destinations at low fares out of Changi Airport.
This is an assurance that the carrier’s chief executive John Simeone makes as the airline sees rising passenger volume following three debilitating years as a result of Covid-19.
It also comes despite the fact that its fleet size is now more than a third smaller than it used to be before the pandemic.
“We had 18 planes prior to the pandemic, but we now have 11 planes serving 17 destinations in eight countries,” said Simeone, who took over as chief executive of Jetstar Asia in early 2024.
“Ideally, we would ultimately like to go back to 18 planes, but, for now, we have the right size to create an adequate return on investment.”
The airline, which is 49% owned by Qantas and 51% by Singaporean company Westbrook Investments, plans to increase its fleet to 13 planes by the end of 2024.
Jetstar Asia operates under the umbrella of Jetstar Group, the low-cost subsidiary of Qantas.
The Melbourne-based LCC chalked up A$4.9bil or about US$3.4bil in revenue in 2023, just over 20% of parent Qantas group’s A$21.9bil revenue.
Singapore-based Jetstar Asia has accounted for more than 10% of Jetstar Group’s total revenue in the past 15 years.
With the pandemic now behind it, Jetstar Asia has been steadily broadening its regional network over the past year and currently operates 320 flights a week.
In addition to new routes such as to Haikou and Broome, it will soon start flights to new destinations like Colombo and Medan.
While seeing robust demand on services to large cities like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta, the airline also fills its cabins to numerous holiday destinations such as Okinawa, Krabi and Wuxi.
“We will continue to think about unique destinations out of Changi,” said Simeone, who was previously Qantas’ senior vice-president for Asia, where he was responsible for its operations stretching from India to Japan.
“We have sold about two million tickets since early 2023, and two-thirds of them were under S$100.”
Consistently ranked among the top LCCs in Asia for both safety and timeliness, Jetstar Asia employs about 500 people in Singapore, 70% of whom are Singaporeans.
It was recently ranked among the “Best Low-Cost Airlines in Asia 2024” by Skytrax and rated one of the top five airlines by passenger carriage at the Changi Airline Awards 2024.
As the carrier prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary in December, besides commemorative events and possible ticket offers, it will also unveil brand-new uniforms for its cabin crew, Simeone revealed.
The old uniforms will be recycled into “something unique and useful”, he said.
Asked about how the airline’s highly publicised move to Terminal 4 in Changi in 2024 had impacted its interline arrangements, especially with parent Qantas, which remains in Terminal 1, Simeone said the transition has worked out seamlessly.
“Passengers can transfer between the terminals within 15 minutes using airside buses.” — The Straits Times/ANN
