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| Jetstar Asia’s CEO, Chong Phit Lian (second from left, smiling broadly). Many thanks to Simone Pregellio, Manager, Corporate Communications, for the excellent fresh images in this feature and in our route launch coverage. |
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| Jetstar’s head of sales, Ronnie Lau, presents a RMB1,000 ($150) voucher to the first passenger to check in at Haikou – that’s enough for about three flights at the advertised price for this Singporean businesswoman. |
This week, Jetstar Asia, the Singapore-based low-cost carrier which is 49% owned by Qantas, reached its fifth birthday and celebrated the achievement by starting its first route to China (to Haikou) and re-launching another route (to Phuket). Although AirAsia has grown rapidly in the region, Jetstar Asia’s fleet still consists of just eight A320s. Its share of seat capacity at Singapore Changi airport is still less than 5%, while the 135 weekly departures it operates represent just under 6% of the airport’s movements.
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| Jetstar Asia also resumed Phuket flights this week – but Gunnar Moller, commercial director of Haikou Meilan International Airport, tells anna.aero: “Haikou is much, much better.” |
| Airline | Frequency share | Capacity share | Non-stop routes |
| Singapore Airlines | 27.3% | 37.7% | 53 |
| Silk Air | 10.3% | 5.9% | 31 |
| Tiger Airways | 6.9% | 5.4% | 19 |
| Qantas | 3.0% | 4.8% | 8 |
| Jetstar Asia | 5.8% | 4.5% | 15 |
| AirAsia | 4.2% | 3.2% | 7 |
| Source: OAG Max online for w/c 4 January 2010 | |||
In addition to its own services, Jetstar Asia’s parent company also owns Valuair, another Singapore-based LCC, which currently operates just four routes, all to Indonesia.
Network now up to 15 routes
As of this week, Jetstar Asia operates non-stop to 15 destinations across south-east Asia. Its current network, start dates and competition are summarised below. Other routes that the airline has operated but since dropped are Bangalore, Kolkata and Pattaya.
| Destination | Start Date | WF | Competition |
| Hong Kong (HKG) | 13 Dec 04 | 14 | Cathay Pacific (35), Singapore Airlines (35) |
| Taipei (TPE) | 16 Dec 04 | 7 | China Airlines (7), Eva Airways (6), Singapore Airlines (14) |
| Bangkok (BKK) | 23 Mar 05 | 20 | Singapore Airlines (28), Thai AirAsia (21), Thai Airways (28), Tiger Airways (18) |
| Manila (MNL) | 27 Apr 05 | 10 | Cebu Pacific (28), Philippine Airlines (25), Singapore Airlines (28) |
| Yangon (RGN) | 31 Oct 05 | 4 | Myanmar Airways (5), Silk Air (16) |
| Phnom Penh (PNH) | 15 Dec 05 | 3 | Silk Air (12) |
| Siem Reap (REP) | 16 Dec 05 | 3 | Silk Air (6) |
| Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) | 25 Mar 07 | 8 | Singapore Airlines (21), Tiger Airways (15), Vietnam Airlines (7) |
| Kuala Lumpur (KUL) | 1 Feb 08 | 19 | AirAsia (56), Malaysia Airlines (47), Silk Air (37), Singapore Airlines (17), Tiger Airways (20) |
| Macau (MFM) | 2 Feb 08 | 7 | Tiger Airways (11) |
| Kota Kinabalu (BKI) | 1 Dec 08 | 4 | AirAsia (7), Silk Air (6) |
| Kuching (KCH) | 1 Mar 09 | 4 | AirAsia (7), Malaysia Airlines (7), Silk Air (3), Tiger Airways (4) |
| Penang (PEN) | 1 Jul 09 | 14 | AirAsia (14), Malaysia Airlines (7), Silk Air (21), Tiger Airways (12) |
| Phuket (HKT) | 15 Dec 09* | 14 | Silk Air (28), Thai AirAsia (7), Tiger Airways (14) |
| Haikou (HAK) | 16 Dec 09 | 4 | Tiger Airways (3) |
| Source: anna.aero database, OAG Max Online for w/c 4 January 2010 * Originally launched on 25 October 2005 |
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Tiger Airways provides direct competition on eight of the airline’s 15 routes while AirAsia and its various subsidiaries are also present on six routes. On no route is Jetstar Asia the only carrier.
This week’s new route to Haikou in China is a significant milestone as it represents the airline’s first foray into mainland China (albeit on an island), although it already serves both Hong Kong and Macau. Jetstar Asia recently announced that next February it will start flights to a second destination in China, Shantou.
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