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Tag: Jetstar Asia

  • Jetstar Asia expands network in October

    Jetstar Asia expands network in October

    Jetstar will serve eight cities across Southeast Asia in October, operating over 100 flights in the month.

    While the number of destinations has not increased over September, Jetstar Asia will operate more flights this month, with increases in frequency to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

    The eight cities it will serve in October are:

    • Cambodia: Phnom Penh
    • Indonesia: Jakarta
    • Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Penang
    • Thailand: Bangkok
    • The Philippines: Clark, Manila
    • Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City

    The full schedule

    SectorFlight no.Days of opsDepArrFlight timeAircraft
    Singapore – Bangkok^3K513Mon, Fri191020402h 30mA320
    Bangkok – Singapore3K514Mon, Fri21200050(+1)2h 30mA320
    Singapore – Clark*3K775Wed092013003h 40mA320
    Clark – Singapore*3K776Wed140017403h 40mA320
    Ho Chi Minh City – Singapore@3K556Sat085511552hA320
    Singapore – Jakarta3K201Mon, Thu, Sat075509002h 5mA320
    3K205#Sun200020551h 55mA320
    Jakarta – Singapore3K202Mon, Thu, Sat094012402hA320
    3K206#Sun21350025(+1)1h 50mA320
    Singapore – Kuala Lumpur3K663Wed, Sun093510401h 5mA320
    3K685Thu, Sat125013551h 5mA320
    Kuala Lumpur – Singapore3K664Wed, Sun112012301h 10mA320
    3K686Thu, Sat144015451h 5mA320
    Singapore – Manila*3K761Tue061509503h 35mA320
    3K765Sat172521003h 35mA320
    Manila – Singapore*3K762Tue, Fri103014103h 40mA320
    3K766Sat, Sun21400120(+1)3h 40mA320
    Singapore – Penang3K675Sun151016501h 40mA320
    Penang – Singapore3K676Sun171518401h 25mA320
    Singapore – Phnom Penh3K593Fri132514402h 15mA320
    Phnom Penh – Singapore3K594Fri152518252hA320

    Notes:
    *Passengers on flights to and from The Philippines will be required to wear face shields
    ^Flights to Bangkok will commence from 26 Oct 2020
    @Flights from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City are cargo-only flights
    #Commencing 18 Oct 2020

    Jetstar Fly Flexible policy

    Jetstar Asia has introduced a one-time free date change for even its most basic booking. This applies for flights bought through its website between 7 Mar and 31 Oct 2020, for travel before 31 Dec 2020. However, any fare difference will need to be covered. Note that changes should be made before check-in opens.

    Having said that, you should only be travelling if you are returning to your home country, or if you have pre-approval to fly. Jetstar Asia is currently not approved for transit in Singapore, so customers who wish to travel via Singapore with Jetstar will need to look for alternative arrangements.

    Final thoughts

    Jetstar Asia is still fairly conservative in its planning, but without feeder traffic from key long-haul partners, they will be hard pressed to fill the flights. Jetstar Asia is already looking at a much smaller footprint even after Covid-19, given that it has reduced its fleet to just 13 aircraft, down from 18.

    As such, we expect Jetstar’s services to continue to remain low for the coming months, and expansion will be modest until and unless leisure travel starts resuming.

  • Qantas slashes 6,000 jobs, including 180 at Jetstar Asia

    Qantas slashes 6,000 jobs, including 180 at Jetstar Asia

    Jetstar Asia will also be returning five aircraft, reducing fleet size to 13 aircraft.

    Qantas announced today its post-Covid-19 plans, which include a reduction in workforce as well as issuance of new shares to raise more cash for the airline. The airline is also targeting to reduce its cost by A$15 billion over the next three years.

    Key to this announcement was a 20% reduction in the Qantas workforce, translating to 6,000 jobs, and continuing to place another 15,000 employees on no-pay leave. Qantas will also be raising up to A$1.9 billion in equity through issuance of new shares.

    Three-year strategy

    Qantas Group announced a three-year plan to accelerate its recovery from the havoc that Covid-19 wrecked upon global travel. The plan is aimed towards future profitability, long-term shareholder value and to preserve as many jobs as possible.

    Qantas’ three-pronged approach can be outlined as follow:

    • Rightsize the Group’s workforce, fleet and other costs according to demand projections, with the ability to scale up as flying returns.
    • Restructure to deliver ongoing cost savings and efficiencies across the Group’s operations in a changed market.
    • Recapitalise through an equity raising to strengthen the Group’s financial resilience for recovery and the opportunities it presents.

    Given that Covid-19 has presented a challenge never seen before to most businesses, so Qantas has said that its plan is “designed to account for the uncertainty associated with the crisis, preserving as many key assets and skills as the Group can reasonably carry to support the eventual recovery“.

    Qantas sees that flying will be very much reduced over the next few years, so costs will have to correspondingly go down before flying recovers to pre-Covid-19 levels. Qantas is targeting to save A$15 billion over three years, achieved through the following:

    • Reducing workforce by at least 6,000 roles across all parts of the business
    • Continuing the stand down for 15,000 employees, particularly those associated with international operations, until flying returns
    • Retiring Qantas’ six remaining 747s immediately, six months ahead of schedule
    • Grounding up to 100 aircraft for up to 12 months (some for longer), including most of the international fleet
    • Deferment of A321neo and 787-9 fleet deliveries

    Qantas will suspend international services until at least mid-2021; A380s to be in storage until at least 2023

    According to Executive Traveller, Qantas will most likely suspend international operations until the middle of next year when a vaccine for Covid-19 is most likely available, except for a handful of countries where ‘green lane’ arrangements are in place.

    Qantas is also projecting that its international network will only reach 50% of what it used to be in the 2021-2022 financial year, and therefore there isn’t much use for the A380s as the traffic slowly recovers. As such, Qantas will be parking all of its 12 A380s in the Mojave Desert for at least three years, and a decision will be taken later as to whether all twelve will return to the skies.

    In the meantime, Qantas will be using its Dreamliners as the flagship workhorse as well as the A330s for its international services until the volumes are back, Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce reportedly said.

    Qantas is also bringing forward the retirement of all its Boeing 747s immediately, six months ahead of schedule. This also means that some services previously served by the jumbos will have to be replaced by smaller aircraft in due time, when these routes reinstate.

    Jetstar Asia to lose five aircraft and 180 staff

    Jetstar Asia will be reducing its 700-odd staff strength by more than a quarter, with the 180 jobs cut from across the business. It’s likely that the bulk of the cuts will come from crew, as Jetstar Asia will also be reducing its fleet size from 18 to 13.

    The smaller fleet will mean less flying in the foreseeable future, which will also mean that crew numbers can be reduced in tandem.

    With the reduction in flying, it’s likely that Jetstar will look to axe some routes. Jetstar was to launch Singapore-Colombo services on 1 July, which has now been postponed to mid-October. It remains to be seen if this route will still continue to start come October.

    Qantas international and Jetstar Asia flights grounded since March

    Both Qantas international and Jetstar Asia services were suspended since late March, after Covid-19 flared up in many countries resulting in border closures.

    Qantas was targeting to resume at least some international flights between Australia and New Zealand by July, but this was ruled out by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who suggested that September was a more realistic timeframe.

    Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has already earlier said that international visitors will unlikely to be admitted into Australia until 2021, thereby dashing hopes of a resumption of Qantas international services anytime soon.

    Final thoughts

    This is definitely not a good look, but certainly not unexpected as many major carriers – including Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific – have looked to reduce costs and raise fresh funds earlier this year.

    Credit to them for choosing to furlough staff when the crisis first hit, but as this proves to be a long-lasting shockwave for aviation, it seems like there’s not many options left apart from letting employees go, while trying to conserve and raise cash for the coming years.

    Closer to home, the reduction in Jetstar Asia’s operations will inevitably mean that customers will be looking at a reduced offering from low-cost carriers in the next few years, and likely, higher fares as travelling resumes in a post-Covid-19 world.

  • Jetstar Asia extends cancellations through 31 Jul

    Jetstar Asia extends cancellations through 31 Jul

    The Singapore-Colombo launch is also postponed until 26 Oct

    Jetstar Asia announced yesterday (18 Jun) that it will be cancelling all flights up to 31 Jul, except for the five weekly services that it has been operating in the past weeks.

    In addition, the Singapore-Colombo service which was to be launched on 1 Jul will also be pushed back to commence from 26 Oct 2020.

    As again, all impacted Jetstar Asia passengers will be offered a refund to the full value of their untraveled booking in the form of a travel credit voucher. Jetstar Asia has already announced an enhancement to its credit vouchers, extending the validity from the original six months to a year. The credit voucher can also be used in multiple bookings.

    Note that passengers with a booking to/from the Philippines, Australia, Sri Lanka or Japan are requested to wait to receive a letter from Jetstar regarding available options, which will likely include a cash refunds as protected until local consumer laws.

    Jetstar Asia services still operating

    Since late April, Jetstar has been operating five weekly flights to three Southeast Asian cities: Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. Owing to Thailand’s ban on international passenger flight arrivals, the Singapore-Bangkok service is a freight-only service until further notice.

    SectorFlight no.Days of opsDepArrFlight timeAircraft
    Singapore – Manila3K761Tue061509553h 40mA320
    Manila – Singapore3K762Tue103014153h 45mA320
    Singapore – Bangkok*3K515Wed, Sat104512102h 25mA320
    Bangkok – Singapore3K516Wed, Sat125016152h 25mA320
    Singapore – Kuala Lumpur3K685Thu125013551h 5mA320
    3K663Sun093510401h 5mA320
    Kuala Lumpur – Singapore3K686Thu144015451h 5mA320
    3K664Sun112012301h 10mA320

    Final thoughts

    In the time where airlines are starting to ramp up services again, it’s rather intriguing as to why Jetstar Asia remains slow to resume service.

    While loads will understandably be much lower as compared to pre-Covid-19 days, the airlines will need to take the first initiative to commence service, as a signal of recovery before consumers start booking flights.

    If Jetstar continues to take such a conservative stance in resuming flight, I won’t be surprised if they pick up less than ideal loads and yields down the road, given that demand will probably not meet capacity in the foreseeable future.

  • Jetstar Asia extends validity of credit vouchers to 12 months

    Jetstar Asia extends validity of credit vouchers to 12 months

    The vouchers were previously only valid for six months from date of issue.

    Many people are probably be holding on to a handful of travel credit vouchers from airlines, given the spate of cancellations that happened since Covid-19 hit the world in a big way.

    As the pandemic stretches out and continue to batter the aviation industry, Jetstar has updated its policy around the credit vouchers that it has earlier issued for cancellations.

    Jetstar Asia extends the validity of vouchers to 12 months

    Good news to those who are holding Jetstar Asia credit vouchers: the validity of the vouchers have been extended from six to 12 months, from the date of voucher issue.

    In addition, the credit voucher can now be used over several transactions, instead of a single one under its usual terms and conditions.

    This news was made known in an email to customers today:

    We wanted to let you know that we’ve made the Jetstar credit voucher you received for booking [redacted] even more flexible.

    From today, all new and existing unused vouchers issued by Jetstar Asia in relation to COVID-19 will be valid for 12 months from the date of issue and can be used across multiple bookings.

    We usually make flights available 12 months in advance, so you’ll now have about 2 years to take your next trip with us and if you have enough credit, you’ll be able to book more than one trip and head off on more than one adventure.

    We’ve updated the rules on our end so if you’ve already received your voucher – you don’t need to wait for a new one, it’s been updated in our system & it will work for 12 months and on multiple bookings as long as you have credit remaining.

    The other terms and conditions and the way you redeem your voucher on Jetstar bookings won’t change. And, you’ll be able to check how much credit you have left at any time by going to the voucher balance portal and entering your First Name, Surname and Voucher number. You can find more details on our terms and conditions here

    We hope this change means that you get the best possible value from your voucher and we’re looking forward to welcoming you onboard soon.

    Yours sincerely,

    Jennifer Armor

    This enhancement is in line with what its parent company Qantas has implemented for its customers, where customers holding travel credit can utilise their credit value in parts, rather than having to use it in a single transaction.

    As an enhancement, customers can also check on how much they have left on their voucher in a new portal that Jetstar has set up. Note that the validity has not been extended, so it should be updated to 12 months in due time.

    Screenshot of the Jetstar voucher portal

    Jetstar Asia has one of the most restrictive credit voucher terms

    Jetstar is a group of airlines that has three legal entities: Jetstar Airways (JQ), registered in Australia; Jetstar Asia (3K), registered in Singapore; Jetstar Pacific (BL) registered in Vietnam; and Jetstar Japan (GK) registered in Japan.

    As a low-cost carrier, Jetstar only allow refunds under very specific circumstances, but they usually come as an option if you purchase a Max Bundle, which affords customer some flexibility. While you will not get your cash back, you will be able to cancel your ticket for a credit voucher.

    This is when it starts to get complicated. For refundable tickets, the different airlines have different Jetstar Airways allow passengers to hold the value in credit for up to three years from the date of cancellation, while Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific and Jetstar Japan only allow six months.

    Jetstar credit voucher terms and conditions

    Another key condition was that the value of the voucher must be fully utilised in a single transaction for future use – that means that a customer couldn’t use a S$100 voucher for a S$50 fare twice.

    Specific to Covid-19, Jetstar Asia has allowed all customers to either make a one-time change, or refund for a credit voucher. For customers who have opted for a refund in March, the expiry would have been in September. With the expiry being three months away from today, and with no signs of travel restrictions being lifted — it’s not a pretty picture.

    Final thoughts

    While Jetstar isn’t really going to extra mile for customers, this is definitely a good move, even though it barely matches up with what other airlines offer.

    Most other airlines had outright offered either a refund or a credit voucher since early days of Covid-19. To entice customers not to refund their tickets, some airlines such as Scoot and Singapore Airlines have offered bonus credit vouchers.

    Scoot offering 120% credit voucher

    Nonetheless, this is still a good development for customers with Jetstar vouchers. As travel restriction remains in place, we can only wait to see when can these vouchers be utilised for future travel.

  • Singapore LCCs operating to five cities in April, May

    Singapore LCCs operating to five cities in April, May

    Scoot to operate only two routes in Apr & May; Jetstar Asia offers three routes since 21 Apr

    While Singapore Airlines maintain a minimum link to key cities around the world, Singapore-based low cost carriers – Scoot & Jetstar Asia – has also quietly recommenced some services this month.

    Scoot

    Scoot began suspending flights since February, and subsequently suspended all services since late March.

    The airline will operate to two cities, Hong Kong and Perth, three times a week in both April and May.

    The full schedule as follow:

    SectorFlight no.Days of opsDepArrFlight timeAircraft
    Singapore – Hong KongTR980Tue, Fri, Sun141518204h 5mB787-9
    Hong Kong – SingaporeTR981Tue, Fri, Sun192023153h 55mB787-9
    Singapore – PerthTR8Tue120017105h 10mB787-9
    TR16Fri153020355h 5mB787-9
    TR8Sun120017005hB787-9
    Perth – SingaporeTR9Tue181023455h 35mB787-9
    TR17Fri21500315(+1)5h 25mB787-9
    TR9Sun180023205h 20mB787-9

    The airline has not made clear what service is available on these flights, but a check on the booking engine has shown that only the FlyBag product in Economy class is available for purchase.

    ScootPlus, as well as meals, are not available for purchase, so if you need to make this trip, be prepared to bring your own.

    Only FlyBag product is available for selection on Scoot’s flights

    Jetstar Asia

    Jetstar Asia has suspended all services since 23 March, originally for three weeks, and subsequently extended until 19 May.

    To facilitate freight shipments and to establish essential links to key regional cities, Jetstar has announced that it will run very limited flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila from 21 Apr.

    Manila will be operated once a week on Tuesdays, while Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur will run twice weekly. Note that Singapore to Bangkok services will operate as freighters only and are not available for sale, given that Bangkok has barred all international passenger flights from landing.

    The full schedule as follow:

    SectorFlight no.Days of opsDepArrFlight timeAircraft
    Singapore – Manila3K761Tue061509553h 40mA320
    Manila – Singapore3K762Tue103014153h 45mA320
    Singapore – Bangkok*3K515Wed, Sat104512102h 25mA320
    Bangkok – Singapore3K516Wed, Sat125016152h 25mA320
    Singapore – Kuala Lumpur3K685Thu125013551h 5mA320
    3K663Sun093510401h 5mA320
    Kuala Lumpur – Singapore3K686Thu144015451h 5mA320
    3K664Sun112012301h 10mA320

    Jetstar Asia has also added that these services are only available to citizens and permanent residents who are returning home, or those with prior written approval for travel.

    Note that there will be in-flight services at all. All seatback magazines and menus have been removed, while in-flight meals and duty-free items will not be sold at all.

    All passengers will also be required to wear masks at all times during the flight.

    Final thoughts

    These flights are obviously not for leisure, but to facilitate essential travel and transport of goods. Many may not be aware, but the bulk of air freight – including your fresh food, electronics, medication and many other goods – are transported in the belly of passenger aircraft.

    In this extraordinary times where passenger aircraft are almost all on the ground, cargo space becomes very precious. Airlines around the world are flying some seemingly empty planes, but in reality they are probably filled to the bream carrying goods under the passenger cabin.