Jetstar says that the trade is important

Jetstar has announced a series of new wholesale initiatives to further enhance its relationship with the trade, with CEO Alan Joyce and Group General Manager – Commercial, Bruce Buchanan jointly revealing at ATE 2006 in Adelaide, that the new wholesale pricing, distribution and marketing initiatives are being undertaken ahead of its proposed launch of long haul international operations in November 2006, underlining the low fare carrier’s commitment for strong ongoing commercial relationships with travel industry partners.

Jetstar will commence value based long haul international services from Australia to six international destinations in South East Asia, Japan and the Pacific, with aircraft offering two classes of service, initially with a fleet of Airbus A330-200s before transitioning to a new fleet of Boeing 787s from late 2008.

Jetstar launch destinations from Sydney and Melbourne are Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City), Japan (Osaka), Thailand (Bangkok and Phuket), United States (Hawaii) and Bali.

Mr Joyce said Jetstar’s distribution arrangements for its future long haul international services would also include a Qantas codeshare arrangement on all flights using the existing freesale codeshare arrangement that operate on trans Tasman and Australian domestic services.

He added that Jetstar would also be expanding its codeshare capability to support Jetstar marketed flights on select partner airlines saying “As part of this expansion of our airline partner network Jetstar will also upgrade its product to support seamless “through” check-in with key airline partners to allow customers to receive all boarding passes and baggage tags for their connecting itineraries at the outset of a trip.”

Mr Buchanan added the newly announced initiatives would be supported by new technology, enhanced payment options and a new commercial structure which was recently unveiled and said, “Jetstar is committed to the continuous improvement of its distribution systems to make it even easier for both its customers and travel industry partners to do business with our airline, in particular for international point of sale of Jetstar.”

Jetstar’s future long haul services will go on commercial sale shortly and offer new support initiatives for wholesalers and consolidators specifically covering both pricing and conditions in their distribution of the carrier’s international product offering. These include:

Travel agents remuneration to be paid at a flat dollar amount for all qualifying airfares for each long haul international passenger segment sold;

Offer of nett wholesale fares as part of the introduction of a comprehensive wholesale programme by the airline which includes wholesale rates available over all Jetstar routes and the ability for a 14 day hold facility for bookings made by travel agents through preferred wholesaler programs;

Introduction of a Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) from 1 July 2006. – an industry standard payment system for travel agents to settle with airlines for airfares sold;

Expanded GDS connectivity with Jetstar offering distribution through the Abacus distribution system, one of the leading GDS’ in Asia. Jetstar will also offer enhanced business processes and support for key high-volume consolidator agencies.

Mr Joyce said, “Third parties now distribute over 15% of Jetstar’s product for our existing Australian domestic and trans Tasman operations, with that being a sign of a sound working relationship that currently exists with the trade and the predominantly leisure destinations Jetstar now serves.”

Mr Buchanan said, “Travel agents remuneration will be calculated by Jetstar as a flat dollar amount for each passenger segment sold on one of our long haul international flights and for these services the rate will be AUD$25 per segment bookings via Jetstar.com and agents or AUD$20 for bookings made by a GDS”.

Report by John Alwyn-Jones at ATE 2006