In crisis, there is opportunity, and Jetstar Asia, the low-cost carrier based in Singapore, is not wasting time by aiming for a slice of the corporate travel market.
According to CEO Chong Phit Lian, it makes economic sense for companies trying to trim expenses to move away from full-service airlines to budget carriers. He said Jetstar had in recent weeks signed on over 20 corporate clients.
They were now working on strategies to tailor services to this customer base. One example is one complimentary change to the itinerary which differs from the usual rule of charging a fee for schedule revisions.
Currently, the airline flies to 13 destinations in the region, including capital cities like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. It will start up four weekly flights to Kota Kinabalu from December 2 and Kuching in March 2009. This follows the recent liberalisation of the popular Singapore-Malaysia route.
For more details, visit www.jetstar.com
Margie T Logarta