Jetstar

Where Jetstar fits

Jetstar Airways is the low-cost arm of the Qantas Group, headquartered in Melbourne. Qantas runs two brands side by side: Qantas for the full-service market and Jetstar for price-led travel. Jetstar flies an Australian domestic network, New Zealand domestic and trans-Tasman routes, and international services into Asia and the Pacific, with Melbourne as its main base. Its fleet mixes Airbus A320-family narrowbodies with Boeing 787-8s for longer international flights, and it sells a business-class cabin on the 787. That puts it towards the hybrid end of the low-cost spectrum: the base Starter fare is unbundled, while bundles, seat selection, Qantas Frequent Flyer rewards and a premium cabin on some routes sit on top.

Origins

Qantas decided in 2001 to set up a low-cost domestic subsidiary. It had bought Impulse Airlines in November 2001, and that company was relaunched under the Jetstar name. Tickets went on sale in February 2004 and passenger flights began on 25 May 2004, initially from Avalon Airport near Melbourne. The first international flights, to Christchurch, started on 1 December 2005 from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. New Zealand domestic flying, linking Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown, followed in 2009. In October 2006 Jetstar began letting customers choose seats at booking. A Federal Court case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over drip pricing went against Jetstar and Virgin Australia in November 2015.

The Jetstar brands in Asia

Qantas used the Jetstar name for a series of part-owned airlines in Asia, partnering with local investors to meet ownership rules and to keep capital commitments down. Jetstar Asia began flying from Singapore in December 2004. Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam was relaunched under the brand in 2008 and left the group in July 2020, reverting to Pacific Airlines. Jetstar Japan, a joint venture with Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi, started flying on 3 July 2012. A planned Jetstar Hong Kong received aircraft but never launched. Jetstar Asia stopped flying on 31 July 2025, and its 13 A320s returned to Australia. On 3 February 2026 Qantas announced it would sell its stake in Jetstar Japan by June 2027, with the new investors to rebrand that airline. This page covers Jetstar Airways in Australia and New Zealand.

Fleet

The Qantas Annual Report 2026 lists 97 aircraft for Jetstar Australia and New Zealand at 30 June 2026, the same total as a year earlier:

• 50 Airbus A320-200
• 5 Airbus A320neo
• 6 Airbus A321-200
• 25 Airbus A321LR
• 11 Boeing 787-8

The A321LR, first delivered in July 2022, lets Jetstar fly narrowbody aircraft on longer routes that once needed a 787. Within the Qantas Group's combined order book, Jetstar's allocation of A321XLRs was revised to 12 aircraft in August 2025, to be fitted with two cabins. In November 2023 the airline announced a cabin refit for its 787-8s from late 2025, with new seats, a larger business cabin and Wi-Fi replacing seat-back screens.

2025–26

In New Zealand, Jetstar admitted 20 charges under the Fair Trading Act in August 2025 over how it told customers about compensation, and was fined by the Auckland District Court on 1 September 2025. In 2026 the airline opened a three-times-weekly Melbourne to Colombo route on 25 August, and on 16 October opened a cabin crew base in Perth with 40 crew. Jetstar flew a trial flight into Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport on 1 September 2026, and says it will fly the airport's first passenger service, to the Gold Coast, on 25 October 2026.