Jetstar eyes A321 ‘sub fleet’

A report by Steve Creedy in The Australian says that Jetstar is considering a “sub fleet” of Airbus A321 aircraft to bridge the gap between its A320s and its wide-body international aircraft.

Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline was considering acquiring six A321 to give the airline extra flexibility on short- to medium-haul routes into Southeast Asia from Australia.

“It’s a great aircraft before you go to the next step: the A330 or the Boeing 787,” he said.

“The difference between 177 (seats), which we have on the 320, and 300 seats is a big move, whereas the A321 can have up to 220 seats on it.

“But we would have to make six aircraft work and we’re working through whether there are enough routes.

“There are definitely one or two routes where you could say it’s a no-brainer.”

Mr Joyce said the commonality between the A320 and A321 meant that a pilot could fly one aircraft on one sector and then the other on the next.

“There are a few minor differences on spare parts – we’d just have to order a few spares – but you can spec the aircraft just about the same,” he said. “So, with engineering you get those synergies as well.”

“The only complexity you have is if something goes unserviceable – you’ve sold up to 200-odd seats and may only get 177 seats available.

“But I think we can handle that.”

Mr Joyce said the decision would come down to whether there was an economic case to add the bigger narrow-body aircraft to the fleet and whether there was enough of a margin to outweigh the additional complexities.

He said this would look at whether it was better to operate a small fleet of six to 10 A321s than to sub-optimise on smaller planes for some routes.

“It’s always been a simple economic equation that we work through. You can judge whether it’s worthwhile making a change in investment,” he said.

If Jetstar does get the A321s, they are likely to be managed by the same part of Jetstar that manages the A320s. The airline manages its wide- and narrow-body aircraft as separate businesses, from a cost and revenue perspective.

“From a business point of view, we look at it as a 320 family and a 330 long-haul family,” he said, noting that A320s already flew flights to Christchurch and Singapore.

Jetstar is already due to get nine additional A320s between December and March 2009 and will also start flying the new 787s from August next year.

Last week it announced a series of new routes that would soak up some of the additional capacity and see a second aircraft based in the NSW regional centre of Newcastle, creating 50 new jobs.

The new routes will see Melbourne-Newcastle services boosted from two a day to three; Brisbane-Newcastle increases from three daily services; and Gold Coast-Newcastle becomes a daily flight.

The airline also announced boosts to the Cairns and Gold Coast markets from June next year, which include boosting Brisbane-Cairns to four times daily and an additional four flights a week between Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Jetstar is also introducing check-in kiosks and web check-in later this year.

Mr Joyce said the new self-service options would allow Jetstar to cope with a 40 per cent growth in operations without increasing manpower at the three major airports.

Report by The Mole