Qantas to wind-down Jetstar Asia

Qantas is planning to wind down and shut part of its Jetstar low-cost carrier, with Jetstar Asia facing the axe.

Jetstar Asia Airbus A320 – Image, Economy Class and Beyond 

Jetstar Asia will continue to operate flights for the next seven weeks on a progressively reduced schedule, before its final day of operation on 31 July 2025. 

16 routes are impacted by the closure. These include:

• Bangkok (Thailand)
• Broome (Australia)
• Clark (Philippines) 
• Colombo  (Sri Lanka) 
• Denpasar (Indonesia)
• Jakarta (Indonesia)
• Krabi (Thailand)
• Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
• Labuan Bajo (Indonesia)
• Manila (Philippines) 
• Medan (Indonesia)
• Okinawa (Japan)
• Osaka (Japan)
• Penang (Malaysia) 
• Phuket (Thailand)
• Surabaya(Indonesia)
• Wuxi (China)

The closure of Jetstar Asia only impacts the intra-Asia routes operated by the airline from its base in Singapore. It does not impact Jetstar Airways’ domestic and international operations in Australia and New Zealand or Jetstar Japan. Jetstar Airways will continue to fly from Australia into Asia, including to all its popular destinations across Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea.

Jetstar Asia customers with existing bookings on cancelled flights will be offered full refunds, and the Group will look to reaccommodate customers onto other airlines where possible.

The decision has been made with the majority shareholder, Westbrook Investments, to close the airline. The blame has been put on the impact of rising supplier costs, high airport fees, and intensified competition in the region, with an estimated $35 million loss predicted.

For the staff, all affected Jetstar Asia employees will be provided redundancy benefits as well as employment support services. Qantas is also actively working to find job opportunities across the Group and with other airlines in the region.

Travel Advice

Both Jetstar and Qantas have updated their travel advice.

If you have an upcoming Qantas international booking which includes a Jetstar Asia (3K) operated sector from/to Singapore that is impacted, the airline will contact you directly regarding your options, including a full refund.

For Jetstar passengers with bookings from 31 July 2025 onwards, they are eligible for a full refund to their original form of payment. The airline will contact you directly to discuss your options. You can also visit Manage Booking to secure your refund now.

If you have a current Jetstar voucher related to travel with Jetstar Asia (3K) with an available balance, you’ll be contacted in August to arrange converting your remaining voucher balance to a monetary refund.

Those with Club Jetstar memberships will see the airline processing refunds from August, which will be automatically applied directly to the card you used to purchase the membership.

Equipment reallocation

Jetstar Asia’s 13 mid-life A320 aircraft will be progressively redeployed to core markets in Australia and New Zealand to support fleet renewal and growth. This will also support further job growth in Australia.

Some of the aircraft will also help accelerate fleet renewal in Qantas’ regional operations that service the critical resources sector in Western Australia.

In Quotes

Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said:

“Jetstar Asia has been a pioneering force in the Asian aviation market for more than 20 years, making air travel accessible to millions of customers across Southeast Asia.”

“We are incredibly proud of the Jetstar Asia team and the work they have done to deliver low fares, strong operational performance and exceptional customer service. This is a very tough day for them. Despite their best efforts, we have seen some of Jetstar Asia’s supplier costs increase by up to 200 per cent, which has materially changed its cost base.”

“I want to sincerely thank and acknowledge our incredible Jetstar Asia team who should be very proud of the impact they have had on aviation in the region over the past two decades.”

Sometimes, experiments don’t work

Jetstar has had various different operations over the years, with some working and some not working (eg Jetstar Hong Kong, which never flew, Jetstar Pacific, which was sold off and regional services in New Zealand, which ceased due to losses).

Given the losses and the competition in the region, it seems that Jetstar Asia wasn’t in the position to grow, along with the high costs of where it flew, with both Westbrook Investments and Qantas Group saw no path to viability.

Whilst it’s a certainty that some of those routes have coverage, there’s one less choice for passengers in the future.