Hong Kong residents, eager for a low-cost carrier of their own, will have to wait a bit longer for the launch of Jetstar Hong Kong.
The joint-venture between Qantas and China Eastern (see previous news) was initially announced to take off middle of this year, but now has been pushed back to end of the year.
Jane Hrdlicka, Jetstar chief executive, said delays in gaining regulatory approval from the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities – due to "changeovers" in the Hong Kong and Chinese governments – were responsible for the hiccup.
However, she stressed that they were in "good dialogue" with departments responsible for issuing the required operating licences.“And we are very confident of being able to fly by end of 2013.”
Future routes have still not been revealed, but the budget carrier's spokesperson Simone Pregellio said: "We are looking at destinations within a five-hour radius of Hong Kong in Southeast Asia, Japan and China."
As with all Jetstar’s existing short-haul operations, Jetstar Hong Kong will use A320 aircraft and aim to have a fleet of 18 by 2015.
For more details, visit www.jetstar.com
Margie T Logarta
