Low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia is planning to hire more than 200 pilots and cabin crew as part of its efforts to rebuild capacity. Its fleet of seven will be joined by two more Airbus A320 aircraft by the end of 2023.
Jetstar Asia Chief Executive Barathan Pasupathi announced these plans in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday without going into detail and also stated that plans were also afoot to add more planes to the airline’s stable next year. He said that they were embarking on an exciting chapter of sustainable growth, adding that the Singapore-based airline intends to rehire a number of pilots who left at the peak of the pandemic. Jetstar Asia, which is owned jointly by Singapore investment company Westbrook Investments and Australia’s flag carrier Qantas will also induct new cadet pilots and cabin crew interns while additionally hiring graduates from aviation academies through a direct-entry recruitment programme.
A spokesman for Jetstar Asia said it already had the crew required for the two A320s that will be added in 2023 to its fleet. She said that they were now commencing a recruitment programme for required roles over the next 12 months, and observed a strong interest. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/jetstar-asia-to-hire-more-than-200-pilots-cabin-crew-as-budget-airline-rebuilds-capacity#:~:text=SINGAPORE%20%E2%80%93%20Low%2Dcost%20carrier%20Jetstar,by%20the%20end%20of%202023.
When borders were closed in July 2020 and air travel demand nosedived owing to the pandemic, Jetstar Asia cut about 180 jobs or a quarter of its Singapore-based workforce. The carrier shed eleven A320s between 2020 and 2022, reducing its fleet size from 18 to 7. Since then, global air travel in the Asia-Pacific has been steadily recovering.
For instance, in June 2023, passenger traffic at Changi Airport crossed the 5 million mark for the first time since the commencement of the pandemic in January 2020. This is 88% of the passenger traffic recorded in June 2019. Even so, Jetstar Asia had been slower than its closest rivals, Scoot and AirAsia Group, to rebuild capacity. Jetstar Asia’s seat capacity in Singapore is at 42% of 2019 levels, based on data from OAG, a database of airline schedules, with 113% for Scoot and 105% for AirAsia Group. Jetstar Group initially carried out months of negotiations with Changi Airport Group (CAG) over relocating its operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4, Jetstar Group which was initially opposed by the airline group.
Since then Jetstar Asia has begun to resume more of its services. In April it re-commenced flights to China after a 3 year stoppage owing to the pandemic, with services to Haikou on the island province of Hainan. In July it announced its plans to resume direct flights in November between Singapore and Okinawa, and also between Singapore and Osaka via Manila. It was stated earlier that the airline expected to fly over 180,000 passengers between Singapore and Japan annually on the two routes.
In its reply to Straits Times, Jetstar Asia’s spokesman said its relocation to Terminal 4 created room to enlarge its network and capacity at Changi Airport. She said that they were seeing a high demand for their flights to Haikou and were excited to see China resume visa-free travel for Singaporeans. Independent analyst Brendan Sobie of Sobie Aviation noted in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that Qantas had disclosed at its annual investor day in May that Jetstar Asia would be adding another 4 aircraft soon after the initial two, which would result in an eventual fleet size of 13 planes. He also stated that Jetstar Asia’s plans were not about growth, but about establishing a meaningful presence. He also pointed out that Changi Airport had largely reinstated its 80-20 slot use rule, which required airlines to use their allocated take-off and landing slots at least 80% of the time.
