Jetstar Flies into Vietnam Venture

[J Brown]

Who didn't see this coming when QF took a stake in Pacific Airlines!

QANTAS is set to boost its presence in Southeast Asia by establishing a fleet of 30 Jetstar-branded aircraft in Vietnam.

Qantas executives and Vietnamese officials will today unveil an agreement to change the name of Pacific Airlines, Vietnam's second-largest carrier, to Jetstar Pacific as part of a joint venture that will also lead to a fleet of 30 leased Airbus A320 aircraft being based in the country by 2014.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23349,00.html

[Lukas M]

Are these A320's an additional order from the "Big" QF order currently underway??

But I can see this plan working well

[Michael Morrison]

Originally Posted by Lukas Mahoney

Are these A320's an additional order from the "Big" QF order currently underway??

I believe so. It was mentioned in the order that the A320's were for the whole Jetstar group, including ops in SIN & Vietnam (THough Vietnam was pending the higher % stake I think)

[Lukas M]

May I ask, when did Mr Dixon want this airline up and running by, the end of the year??, next year??

[Michael Morrison]

The airline is already running with something like 5 x 737's.

You have been able to see all the Pacific Airlines destinations in Vietnam on the JQ website for about 6 months. If you try to book it redirects to pacific airliens website.

http://www.pacificairlines.com.vn/Se...?Culture=en-US

[Steve Jones]

Also on the Pacific Airlines website you can see and book the Jetstar Asia services to/from Singapore.

I think this is a good move by JQ into an obvious growth market.

[Lukas M]

Jetstar Pacific, the product of a strategic partnership between Qantas and Vietnam's second-largest carrier Pacific Airlines, will be introduced to the public today, along with bold plans to turn the venture into South-East Asia's leading budget airline.
Using Pacific Airlines' fleet of four Boeing 737s, the airline will officially take to the skies under the Jetstar Pacific banner on May 23.
To facilitate the expansion of the relaunched airline, parent company Qantas has committed 30 new Airbus A320s, the first of which will be delivered in August.
The first batch of the single-aisle aircrafts will be used to solidify the airline's domestic operations in Vietnam.

The second phase will see Jetstar Pacific launch international routes from Vietnam into countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore, potentially as soon as Christmas

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/...014090,00.html

So not long to the name changeover then, should be exiting for that region

[Brenden S]

QF are sure not mucking around here anymore.

[David Sims]

Yes, certainly an exciting move by QF. Hopefully they will be there for the long haul (excuse the pun)

[Michael Morrison]

I wonder where their Asian hub will be?

I presume they will crew some of the new operations with lower cost asian staff from the chosen hub. It would be very clever if they did.