Commentary: Will demise of Jetstar Asia have impression on Singapore aviation? | USAEMALL.com

JETSTAR ASIA LEAVES A VOID THAT CAN BE FILLED

While Jetstar Asia’s exit is disappointing for Changi Airport Group, its small post-pandemic market share means the void it leaves should be relatively easy to fill.

SIA Group, including budget subsidiary Scoot, has already announced it will pick up two of Jetstar Asia’s four exclusive routes – Okinawa and Labuan Bajo. It also plans to add flights on 10 of Jetstar Asia’s 12 competitive routes.

The only Jetstar Asia routes SIA Group is so far not stepping up are the exclusive routes of Broome and Wuxi and the competitive routes of Kuala Lumpur and Krabi. Broome and Wuxi benefitted from local government financial support. Kuala Lumpur is generally considered oversupplied and Krabi is a small route already dominated by Scoot.

Based on OAG data, over 75 per cent of Jetstar Asia’s capacity was on six highly competitive routes: Bali, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta and Phuket. These were the only routes that Jetstar Asia had more than one flight per day – ranging from to two to four depending on the route and time of year.

In 2024, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Bali were Changi’s four largest routes based on passenger traffic. Manila took the sixth spot, and Phuket narrowly missed the top 10.

Air fares across all these routes remain low in August despite Jetstar Asia’s exit, an early indication that Jetstar Asia’s demise may not have a significant impact on consumers.

For example, in the first week of August, there are several flights available for S$100 or less including taxes from Singapore to Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Phuket.

Manila and Bali are a bit more expensive with one-way fares starting at about S$120 and S$150 in early August, but for Bali there are cheaper options later in the month with fares starting at $108.

The base air fares are in many cases just a few dollars, after factoring in the S$65 in taxes and fees charged for every passenger departing Changi.

These are the kind of fares that prompted Jetstar Asia to throw in the towel and move the 13 aircraft to sister airlines in Australia and New Zealand, where average fares on similar short-haul routes are much higher.

Jetstar Asia cited intense competition and high airport fees in deciding to suspend operations. It was losing about US$2 million per month and did not see any prospect of improving yields to sufficiently cover the massive jump in costs post-pandemic – both from airports and suppliers.