First mover?

Jetstar’s Airbus led expansions

Jetstar is embarking on its biggest expansion program yet with the first of 17 Airbus A321s and 50 additional A320s now entering service to drive expansion within Australia and through Asia.

The Qantas low cost subsidiary’s expansion plans were revealed as part of a November announcement that the Qantas Group would acquire up to 188 A320 Family and Boeing 737‑800 narrowbody airliners. But with ‘only’ 30 firm 737-800 orders (plus 49 options/ purchase rights) for Qantas compared to firm orders for 50 A320 Family aircraft for Jetstar, plus plans to lease another 18 A320/A321s and purchase rights/options for an additional 40 A320/A321s, the announcement made it clear that Jetstar is the key growth vehicle for the Qantas Group. At the time of the announcement Jetstar had 23 A320s in Australian service with existing plans to introduce a further nine (deliveries of which began late last year and will conclude in March 2009), so the potential addition of as many as 108 more A320s/A321s signals a massive expansion of the Jetstar fleet, and highlights the importance of Jetstar to its Qantas parent. The first three of the new aircraft to enter service are the airline’s first of a planned fleet of at least 17 Airbus A321s, the stretched A320 development which in Jetstar service will seat up to 213 all-economy passengers, 36 more than in its A320s. These first A321s have been sourced from Spirit Airlines in the US, with the first arriving at Jetstar’s Newcastle-Williamtown maintenance base on March 31. Service entry is expected in late April (about a month later than originally anticipated).