HANOI – Qantas will establish a fleet of 20 Jetstar-branded aircraft in Vietnam.
The joint venture with Vietnam’s Pacific Airlines increases Qantas’ total investment in the carrier to $50 million, and will also lead to a fleet of 30 leased Airbus A320 aircraft being based in Vietnam by 2014.
The move will mean Jetstar-branded planes will fly to 40 destinations in Asia, the Asia-Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand.
Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce told The Australian, “We were always very strong in Australia but having Pacific Airlines here with the Jetstar name will give us the second most recognised airline brand and that means we can sell more effectively our Australia-direct operations.â€
Jetstar rival in Australia, Virgin Blue, saw its shares close at a record low Monday after the company said its expects annual profit to come in almost A$80 million lower than last year.
The carrier said Friday that higher fuel costs and excess capacity would push down its profits for the year.
Virgin Blue now predicts profits won’t exceed A$140 million, down from A$216 million in the previous year.
