Bangkok--2 Oct--Aziam Burson-Marsteller Jetstar has confirmed future growth is high on the agenda as the carrier approaches its first year of international long haul operations. Jetstar became one of the world’s first value based long haul carriers when it launched services with Melbourne, Australia to Bangkok on the 23rd November last year. Jetstar operates three times weekly services between Bangkok and Melbourne and three times weekly services between Phuket and Sydney. This month, the carrier completed the first stage of growth for its international operations with the addition of new services between Australia and Malaysia and more services for Australia and Japan with new flights between Cairns and Osaka. The carrier now operates an initial fleet of six A330-200 aircraft for long haul services and Thailand plays a key role with services from both Bangkok and Phuket. Bangkok is the home to the carrier’s only long haul crew base outside Australia. Whilst the first stage of growth has now reached completion, a growing Jetstar team has been planning for many months the introduction of Jetstar’s future international long haul fleet — 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the first for Australia in 2008. Jetstar has grown over three fold since it started services three years ago and in 2010/2011, the carrier will be almost 10 times its current size. The carrier, which started as a domestic Australian airline, will become a predominantly international airline based on fleet utilisation when the introduction of all 15 Dreamliners has been completed. Jetstar carried 7.6 million passengers during the 2007 financial year. Customer Satisfaction Milestones Jetstar is committed to offering the lowest airfares in the market. To demonstrate this commitment Jetstar offers all Australian customers a “Double the Difference Voucher Guarantee”. For any Australian passenger heading to Thailand who finds a lower fare on any carrier on the same date of travel as Jetstar, Jetstar will offer them a travel voucher equal to thevalue of double the difference. This campaign is currently being run on all Australian and trans Tasman services and on all international routes (aside from Japan) from Australia. Jetstar is the fastest growing international carrier in Australia and Jetstar’s international long haul fleet of Airbus A330-200 aircraft includes two brand new aircraft from Airbus that were received this year. The average age of the fleet is just three years. Maintenance on Jetstar’s fleet of young aircraft is undertaken by Qantas Engineering and the carrier is governed by the same rigorous safety standards of any airline within the Qantas Group — renowned for being one of the safest airlines in the world. Jetstar’s commitment to the lowest fares and highest levels of service has led to a stream of recent awards. Along with winning SkyTrax’s 2007 award for Best Low Cost Carrier in the World and Best Cabin Crew in Australia/New Zealand, the carrier has also been awarded Airline Business Magazine’s Award for Operational Excellence for 2007. Service Expansion Jetstar has been reacting to the strong market acceptance of its international long haul value based services with planned expansion of services initially on the Sydney to Bali route. “In response to the performance of just one of our strongest international markets — Bali — Jetstar is ready to expand our existing international services from Australia to Denpasar by 50 per cent,” said Alan Joyce, Chief Executive Officer of Jetstar. “As part of the successful two brand future growth strategy within Qantas, Jetstar’s international operations will always seek to grow in markets with either demonstrated or future growth potential.” Jetstar’s two-class 303 seat Airbus A330 services to Bali currently operate twice weekly from Sydney and from Melbourne and from 28 October 2007, this will increase to a four times weekly service between Sydney and Bali. Jetstar’s international long haul operations started in Thailand with the launch in November 2006 of flights three times a week Melbourne-Bangkok and Sydney-Phuket respectively. “Bangkok and Phuket continue to gain appeal as popular tourism destinations for Australians, and a concerted consumer drive for low fares has allowed us to strengthen our fare leadership position while giving our dedicatedcustomers a genuine platform of important choices and incentives — of offering products and services that both appeal and passionately relate to the travel experience,” Mr Joyce said. Thailand is now set for another record year in tourism according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Jetstar’s competitive low fares and regular direct flights between Thailand and Australia are currently available for THB 7400 baht one way Bangkok-Melbourne and Phuket-Sydney (exclusive of surcharges, fees and taxes). Jetstar’s intra-Asian operations, based in Singapore, continue to operate value-based services direct from Singapore to Bangkok (three times daily or 21 times weekly) and Phuket (six times weekly) with Airbus A320s. Mr Joyce concluded that Jetstar will continue to make significant investments in Thailand through its six weekly international return services between Australia and Thailand, offering over 1800 inbound seats per week, as well as the establishment of a 100 person cabin crew base in Bangkok. Media enquiries: James Best /Sribenja Semmeesook Aziam Burson-Marsteller Tel: +66 (0) 2252 9871 E: [email protected] / [email protected] Simon Westaway General Manager of Corporate Relations Jetstar Airways (Australia) Tel: +61 (0) 401 994 627 E: [email protected] Jetstar Melbourne Schedule (Departure times shown) Bangkok — Melbourne JQ 30 21.00 Mon, Thurs, Sun Melbourne - Bangkok JQ 29 14.10 Mon, Thurs, Sun Jetstar Phuket Schedule (Departure times shown) Phuket-Sydney JQ 28 22.20 Mon, Wed, Fri Sydney-Phuket JQ 27 15.20 Mon, Wed, Fri Jetstar Airways (www.jetstar.com) Jetstar is a Qantas Group Airline and fully owned subsidiary, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. The value based airline commenced flying in May 2004 and currently operates 1,100 weekly services to 20 existing destinations within Australia, flights to from Australia to Christchurch in New Zealand and flights between Cairns and Darwin and Singapore. It has carried almost 17 million customers since launch. Jetstar currently operates a fleet of 23 Airbus A320 aircraft and six wide bodied Airbus A330-200 aircraft on international long haul flying to Thailand (Bangkok and Phuket), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh), Japan (Osaka and Nagoya), Indonesia (Bali) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur). Jetstar will transitioning to a fleet of 15 new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft from the end of 2008. Mail from: Satida Sritunyatorn Media Relations Director Aziam Burson-Marsteller (ABM) Bangkok, Thailand Tel: +66 (0) 2252 9871 ext. 122 Fax: +66 (0) 2254 8353 Mobile: +66 (0) 8 3788 5115