AirAsia and Jetstar team-up in low-cost carrier alliance
Dave BondA new alliance is emerging in the world of air travel. Two of hte biggest budget commercial passenger carriers in Asia, Jetstar and AirAsia, are reported to have worked out an agreement.
The alliance is said to include cooperation on the handling of passengers as well as the likelihood of joint aircraft orders.
Jetstar is a division of Qantas Airways in Australia and the Malaysia based AirAsia is considered in the industry as the top budget carrier on the Asian continent.
Bothe AirAsia and Jetstar are said to have looking at options to reduce their respective operational expenditures.
However, it was recently reported by AP that the two carriers were not in apparent financial difficulty. It was said that Jetstar parent company Qantas posted a profit during the second half of 2009, while AirAsia demonstrated a profit in the third quarter of the same year.
Qantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement that AirAsia and Jetstar provide unrivaled reach in the Asia-Pacific market and that cooperation would permit the members of the new alliance to maximize that scale.
According to the CEOs of both airlines, the teaming-up is a logical move that will generate a naturally position the two carriers as Asian travellers increasingly opt for low-cost companies.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said that his company strongly believes this alliance will contribute to ensuring the carrier can maintain its current position as the world’s least expensive air travel option despite increasing costs which accompany a global economic recovery.
Analysts say the alliance will provide Jetstar and AirAsia an improved bargaining power which will edge over their competitors.
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Filed under Business & Finance, Travel News, World News