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Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd, trading as Jetstar, is an Australian low-cost airline headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, created in response to the threat posed by the airline Virgin Blue (now known as Virgin Australia). Jetstar is part of Qantas' two-brand strategy of having Qantas Airways for the premium full-service market and Jetstar for the low-cost market. As of June 2015, Jetstar was carrying 8.5% of all passengers travelling in and out of Australia.
The airline operates an extensive domestic network as well as regional and international services from its main base at Melbourne Airport, using a mixed fleet consisting of the Airbus A320 family and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Like its Qantas parent, Jetstar competes with Virgin Australia. Qantas, through the Jetstar Group, also has stake in the airline Jetstar Japan.
Originally the airline was headquartered on the grounds of Avalon Airport near Melbourne, and started flying out of Avalon Airport in mid 2004, but later relocated its registered office to the suburb of Collingwood, Victoria, near the Melbourne central business district.
Reserved seating is provided on all routes, and on 4 October 2006, Jetstar became the first Australian airline to allow customers to select their seat upon booking. Sister airline Jetstar Asia Airways took off from its Singapore hub to Hong Kong on 13 December 2004, Qantas' entry into the Asian low-cost market to compete with Singapore Airlines on its home ground. Qantas had a 49% stake in Jetstar Asia's ownership. Jetstar Asia closed in 2025.
On 1 December 2005, Jetstar commenced operations from Sydney Airport, Avalon Airport, Brisbane Airport and the Gold Coast to Christchurch in New Zealand. On 7 December 2005, it was announced that Jetstar would establish the world's first global low-cost airline. At the end of 2005, it was announced that Jetstar would fly to Perth Airport from Avalon Airport.
In July 2006, Jetstar and Jetstar Asia were brought together under the "Jetstar" brand. Online bookings for both carriers were integrated into Jetstar.com.
In July 2007, Qantas acquired an 18% stake in Vietnam's Pacific Airlines, to increase to 30% by 2010. The airline was relaunched on 23 May 2008 as Jetstar Pacific.
In 2008 Jetstar signed an agreement with the Northern Territory Government to make Darwin International Airport an international hub with seven aircraft based there, with A$8 million from the Northern Territory Government. The Darwin base was closed in May 2014, with aircraft repositioned to Adelaide. Flights to Tokyo via Manila were discontinued, and services to Singapore were henceforth operated by Jetstar Asia with Singapore-based aircraft. The base closure was attributed to cost-cutting by parent Qantas and increased competition from the re-introduction Asian carriers' flights into Darwin Airport.
In 2009, Jetstar commenced daily Airbus A320 direct services from Auckland to the Gold Coast and Sydney, and domestic New Zealand flights between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown, followed by services to Dunedin Airport. Jetstar replaced Qantas subsidiary Jetconnect on these routes.
In August 2011, Jetstar's parent Qantas announced that it would set up a new airline to be called Jetstar Japan, a joint venture of Jetstar, Japan Airlines, and Mitsubishi. The airline was expected to start operating in December 2012, but then launched ahead of schedule on 3 July 2012.
In March 2012, another Asian Jetstar branded airline was announced, Jetstar Hong Kong, a strategic partnership between Qantas and China Eastern Airlines, which was expected to commence operations in 2013. Although it took delivery of aircraft, Jetstar Hong Kong never commenced operations due to a revoked licence application.
In November 2013, Jetstar moved its head office from Melbourne's CBD to the suburb of Collingwood. In February 2014, Jetstar signed a codeshare agreement with Emirates Airlines as a continuation of the agreement between Emirates and Qantas, Jetstar's parent airline.
In mid 2014, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) took legal action against Jetstar and competitor Virgin Australia in respect of drip pricing. In November 2015 the Federal Court of Australia found that the ACCC's claims that the two airlines engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by carrying out drip pricing were proven. In September 2022, Stephanie Tully was appointed as the new CEO of Jetstar.
In June 2015, Jetstar announced that it would commence regional services in New Zealand, beginning in December 2015. The new services would be flown by five turboprops Bombardier Dash 8s operated by Eastern Australia Airlines—one of Qantas' subsidiary regional airlines—under the Jetstar brand. At least four new destinations would be served initially, with Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson and Invercargill named as the cities under consideration. On 31 August 2015, Jetstar announced it had selected the first four regional centres it would serve at the commencement of operations on 1 December; these were Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, and Palmerston North. All four cities had services to Auckland; Nelson also had services to Wellington.
Jetstar announced in November 2019 that they would be ceasing all of their regional routes in New Zealand because the routes were loss-making.
In mid March 2020, Jetstar suspended their New Zealand operations in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 August, Jetstar suspended its domestic operations in New Zealand after the Government implemented social distancing rules in response to a second outbreak in Auckland that month. The airline attracted criticism after it refused to offer cash refunds to passengers whose flights were affected by the cancellation, instead offering travel vouchers or to change dates.
In mid September 2020, Jetstar announced that it was resuming domestic flights in New Zealand after the New Zealand Government eliminated physical distancing requirements on aircraft.
In late May 2024, Jetstar Flight JQ225 slid off the runway at Christchurch Airport, after suffering steering issues caused by a possible hydraulic leak. The Civil Aviation Authority commenced an investigation into the incident.
| + Jetstar Airways fleet | ||||||
| Airbus A320-200 | 49 | 3 | — | 180 | 180 | Three aircraft to be transferred from Jetstar Asia following closure. |
| 186 | 186 | |||||
| Airbus A320neo | 5 | 8 | — | 188 | 188 | Deliveries began November 2024. |
| 6 | — | — | 230 | 230 | ||
| Airbus A321LR | 20 | 5 | — | 232 | 232 | |
| Airbus A321XLR | — | 12 | Deliveries begin in 2025. | |||
| Boeing 787-8 | 11 | — | 21 | 314 | 335 | To be retrofitted from February 2026. First Australia operator of the 787 Dreamliner. |
In 2014, Qantas ordered another 21 A320neos, taking the total on order to 99.
In 2016, the operator or operators of the A320neos and A321neos (Jetstar or Qantas) remained unspecified.
In November 2017, the order consisted out of 54 A320neos and 45 A321neos as some of the A320neo orders were converted to A321neos.
In February 2018, eighteen of the orders were converted to A321LRs to allow Jetstar Airways to deploy some of its Boeing 787s onto other routes.
In June 2019, at the Paris Air Show, Qantas Group converted 26 A321neo orders to the A321XLR and 10 A321neo to the A321LR. In addition, 10 further A321XLRs were ordered. Total orders for the A320neo family were 109: 45 A320neos, 28 A321LRs, and 36 A321XLR. How these planes will be distributed throughout the Qantas Group has not been announced; some of the A321XLRs have been earmarked for Qantas by ex-CEO Alan Joyce. In July 2022, the airline took its first A321LR.
In November 2023, Jetstar announced a major revamp of its fleet of 11 787-8 Dreamliners from late 2025. The multi-million dollar aircraft upgrade will have new RECARO Seats in business and economy (with the business class offering increasing from 21 to 44), a lie-flat crew rest area, Wi-Fi connectivity to replace entertainment screens and a new livery to match the A321LR.
| + Jetstar former fleet | ||||
| Airbus A330-200 | 11 | 2006 | 2015 | All transferred to Qantas. |
| Boeing 717-200 | 14 | 2004 | 2007 | Inherited from Impulse Airlines. All transferred to QantasLink. |
| De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 | 5 | 2015 | 2019 | Operated by Eastern Australia Airlines. All returned to QantasLink. |
Jetstar's Boeing 787 aircraft are fitted with 10-inch seat-back on-demand entertainment screens in business class and 9-inch screens in economy class. While complimentary for Business Class passengers, Economy Class passengers will need to pre-purchase access to the on-demand entertainment screens or buy it on board.
Qantas partners with local investors as both a means to overcome foreign ownership or traffic rights restrictions and to keep the ventures "capital light", i.e. reduce the capital investment required by Qantas and keep assets such as aircraft off the Qantas balance sheet.
From 2008 to 2020, the Group also consisted of Jetstar Pacific, a Vietnamese subsidiary which is also co-owned by Vietnam Airlines (nearly 70%). However, since July 2020, this carrier left the Jetstar Group and rebranded to Pacific Airlines.
From 2004 to 2025, the Group operated Jetstar Asia a subsidiary based in Singapore serving the Asia-Pacific region, with 16 routes ceased at its end of operation.
The Jetstar Group is headed by CEO Stephanie Tully. The Jetstar Group consists of the following airlines:
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Jetstar Airways mobile website
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