Jetstar and Japan Airlines reach Codeshare Agreement

Jetstar and Japan Airlines have agreed to commercial terms to enter a codeshare agreement on Jetstar’s daily Sydney – Osaka – Brisbane service scheduled to commence from 25 March 2007.

A formal application has been made seeking regulatory approval for the codeshare arrangements between Jetstar and Japan Airlines, which will cover international flight sectors between Sydney, Osaka and Brisbane, to be operated daily by Jetstar.

Qantas will extend existing codeshare arrangements on all Jetstar operations to these proposed services, a new Qantas Group international route under its two airline brand growth strategy. 

Jetstar’s inaugural operations to Japan on the Sydney – Osaka – Brisbane route, will initially operate with a fleet of Airbus A330-200s offering two classes of service.

Jetstar Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said the proposed codeshare arrangement with Japan Airlines as a partner airline was a first for Jetstar, beyond its existing sole codeshare arrangement with parent company Qantas.

“Jetstar’s future success with its long haul international operations in Japan, Australia’s third largest inbound visitor market, will be strongly supported by the proposed code share arrangement with Japan Airlines,” Mr Joyce said.

“The Japanese tourism export market to Australia remains heavily dependent on Japanese origin traffic and we believe our commercial relationship with Japan Airlines to market these Jetstar services in Japan will make a critical contribution to both our operations and future visitor arrivals to Australia from Japan.

“The commencement of a daily direct two class Jetstar service between Sydney - Osaka and a return daily flight direct from Osaka to Brisbane and onto Sydney is a major proactive step by the Qantas Group in working to restore growth in inbound Japanese visitation to Australia.”

Jetstar will further grow in Japan during 2007 offering proposed future services between Cairns-Nagoya (6 times weekly from 2 August 2007) and Cairns-Osaka (4 times weekly from 8 September 2007).

Jetstar commenced long haul international flights in November 2006, and now directly serves 5 international markets from either Sydney or Melbourne flying an existing 18 weekly return services. These markets include Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City, Bali and Honolulu. 

On Australia – Japan routes Jetstar will transition in the future from the 303 seat A330-200s to a fleet of 12 new Boeing 787 aircraft, with delivery of Jetstar’s first B787 scheduled for August 2008.

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