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/story/0,25197,23533751-23349,00.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]

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/Search.aspx?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/0,26058,23535251-5014090,00.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.

[Lukas M]

I hope they will be more like Jetstar Australia, rather than Jetstar Asia. I prefer the aussie uniform, and we dont have advertisements in our A320 cabins!! They should stick clear of the Jetstar Asia idea of an airline, well thats my view

Will be interesting to see a 737 in the JQ Livery!!, if this happens!

[Michael Morrison]

Will be interesting to see a 737 in the JQ Livery!!, if this happens!

It won't... the 737's will switly be replaced with some of the A320's QF have ordered.

[Russell D]

Do you think Jetstar Asia will eventually be collapsed under the one operating name of Jetstar Pacific? Under such a title, all future ventures throughout Asia would all come under the one airline, with Jetstar Australia being the only separate annex.

[Justin L]

Virgin Blue have somewhat got into the act also with an interline agreement with Vietnam airlines.

http://www.virginblue.com.au/AboutUs/Media/NewsandPressReleases/P_003944.htm

A “V” GOOD PARTNERSHIP - VIRGIN BLUE AND VIETNAM AIRLINES SIGN INTERLINE AGREEMENT
Monday 7 April 2008: Virgin Blue and Vietnam Airlines have announced a comprehensive interline agreement which will provide international travellers with seamless connections from Melbourne and Sydney to Vietnam and beyond as well as to 22 Australian cities via Virgin Blue’s domestic network.

The agreement offers a range of benefits for travellers including full baggage check through from point of origin to port of destination. No collecting and re-checking baggage and convenient transfer of Guests from domestic to international airports in Australia.

Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, “This agreement with Vietnam Airlines brings the number of Virgin Blue code-share and interline agreements to ten. It’s a significant new association as it means Virgin Blue Guests will now have the option of convenient travel to one of Asia’s most interesting and popular destinations. We are pleased to be partnering with a reputable carrier such as Vietnam Airlines, to offer more choice for leisure and business travellers.

Mr Phong Quang Nguyen, Vietnam Airlines General Manager Australia and New Zealand, said, “We are pleased to be an interline partner of the fast-growing Virgin Blue Group of Airlines and we strongly believe that such a partnership will help create increased links between the two countries as well as enhance the travel experience for our passengers”.

The new interline partnership means Virgin Blue Guests who book international travel with Vietnam Airlines can travel from anywhere on Virgin Blue’s domestic network via Melbourne or Sydney to any of Vietnam Airlines 41 international and 18 Domestic destinations.

Vietnam Airlines offers daily non-stop flights from Australia to Vietnam, four times per week from Sydney and three times from Melbourne with a young fleet of Boeing 777’s. Passengers flying Vietnam Airlines via Vietnam to North Asian or European cities can enjoy free and attractive stopover packages in Vietnam.

Multi award winning airline Virgin Blue and international carriers Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue currently operate a fleet of 63 modern Boeing 737 and Embraer E-Jet aircraft flying to 24 Australian and eight international destinations including New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Visit www.virginblue.com.au for more information.
Vietnam Airlines is the national airline of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Currently Vietnam Airlines offers flights to 41 International destinations in the Asia, Europe & Australia region and 18 cities inside Vietnam. Visit www.vietnamair.com.vn.

[Lukas M]

Here is Jetstar's New Livery for "Jetstar Pacific", A320 of course

http://www.thanhniennews.com/images/newsimages/jetstar-107-08.jpg

[Lukas M]

If your interested, here is the Link to the new Vietnam Website

http://www.jetstar.com/ve/index.html

[Greg F]

I really dont like the logo!

JetStar*

so in fact its JetStarStar

[Ellis Taylor]

The problem is in Asia is that Jet* is often just read as 'Jet' so when people ring up to book, they can get put through to Jet Airways, rather than Jetstar. This was a big problem when Jetstar Asia transitioned to the generic Jetstar brand. This is not so much a problem here, because we see many more symbols and automatically substitute a word for it. Not so in many Asian cultures.

[Greg F]

I understand the logic, but think they could do better with the logo tho.

Like Jetstar then the orange star?!?

[Ellis Taylor]

Yeah I agree it's not the best but the problem with using the three colours was with the application on a number of different surfaces. They wanted to be able to apply the brand to a number of different backgrounds using the same colours. There's a whole bunch of branding guidelines which were involved, and at the end of the day the 'Jetstar' text with the orange star won out. In the end, it really came down to the call of the appropriate managers.

[Malcolm Parker]

If your interested, here is the Link to the new Vietnam Website

http://www.jetstar.com/ve/index.html


website does not exist it just directs you to the AU website and then if you want domestic travel in Vietnam it just directs you to the Pacific Airlines website and then you have to start the search again. So perhaps not yet running.

[Justin L]

website does not exist it just directs you to the AU website and then if you want domestic travel in Vietnam it just directs you to the Pacific Airlines website and then you have to start the search again. So perhaps not yet running.

It worked the other day when Lukas posted it. Had regional/domestic route maps as well with current and future routes. They must have since made some changes and have temporarily taken it off line.

[Lukas M]

Ever wanted to see a Jetstar (or nearly) Livery on a 737, Jetstar Pacific of course!

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6252923&nseq=1

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6257841&nseq=0

Look closely at the tail, you can still see the pacific airlines logo. Shes filthy though!

[Michael Morrison]

Almost as bad as Air France!

Interesting pics!

[Greg F]

Oh god, that looks horrible!
They look so old! and filthy..........
Lets hope they don't can the A321's for JQ pacific :confused::confused:

[Kieran Wells]

Can't they even afford to wash a plane???

seriously..thats dodgy...

but there again, they may need to add a few more $'s to an airfare if the oil keeps going the way it does...

[Greg F]

Somebody has added two (2) more pictures

http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?airline=Jetstar%20Pacific%20Airline s

You can clearly still see 'Pacific Airlines' Thought they would have done a JQ asia job and put a white patch over the old 'text' ?!?!

[Sarah C]

The paint job is fairly dodgy, but considering they are going to retire the aircraft soon anyway, I can't say I expected anything different