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Jetstar Asia has tapped a long-time Qantas executive as CEO to replace the outgoing Barathan Pasupathi.
Singapore-based John Simeone, who has been Qantas’ senior vice-president for Asia since April last year, will head Jetstar Asia from 1 March. He has worked for Qantas since 1997, with roles in areas such as international sales, business and government sales, and network scheduling.
“John is a fantastic people leader and joins Jetstar Asia with over 30 years of aviation experience, including a deep knowledge of the Singapore and Asian aviation markets,” said Jetstar Asia chairman Dennis Choo.
“John’s appointment provides continuity to the business and strong leadership to Jetstar Asia as we continue an exciting chapter of growth at the airline.”
In a statement, Simeone said Jetstar Asia plays a “key role” in Singapore with its connections to the broader Qantas Group in the region.
“My focus will be to continue the exciting journey we’ve started, building capacity and connectivity out of Changi Airport so we can keep offering great low fares to amazing destinations across the region,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to leading the Jetstar Asia team and continuing to deliver great experiences for our customers.”
Jetstar Asia is a joint venture between Qantas and Singapore company Westbrook Investments. Qantas holds a minority 49 per cent stake in the company, with 51 per cent owned by Westbrook.
The ACCC last year cleared Qantas to continue coordinating between Jetstar and its two Asian joint ventures, Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Japan, until May 2028, though declined to give the 10-year authorisation Qantas had sought.
This was the third authorisation the ACCC has delivered, renewing previous decisions in 2013 and 2018, and allowing the airlines to coordinate on matters such as flight scheduling, sales and marketing, and pricing.
According to the competition watchdog, the competition is permissible because Qantas is not a majority shareholder in either airline.
“The Qantas Group has established the Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Japan joint ventures because in some international jurisdictions the regulatory environment makes it difficult for airlines to wholly or majority own airlines outside their own country,” the ACCC says.
“As both involve minority Qantas shareholdings, ACCC authorisation enables coordination to continue without risk of breaching Australian competition law.”
Jetstar Japan, based in Narita in Chiba Prefecture, is owned largely by Qantas and Japan Air Lines.
