Qantas smarts after Hong Kong rejects Jetstar application

Qantas Group has said it will work with its fellow shareholders in Jetstar Hong Kong to review the enterprise, following the Air Transport Licensing Authority’s decision to reject the local carrier’s application to establish an operation in Hong Kong.

Jetstar Hong Kong – a joint venture between Shun Tak Holdings, China Eastern Airlines and the Qantas Group – was announced in March 2012.

Each partner holds a one-third economic share while the Hong Kong based Shun Tak Holdings has 51 per cent of the voting rights and ultimate control.
Seventy per cent of the board is from Hong Kong.

In December 2014, the Qantas Group investment in Jetstar Hong Kong was carried at $10 million.

The low cost carrier’s application for a licence to operate scheduled air services has been under consideration by the local licensing authority for over two years.

Expressing disappointment at the decision, chief executive of the Qantas Group Alan Joyce said: “This is as disappointing for the shareholders as it is for the travellers that Jetstar Hong Kong planned to serve.

“It’s the travelling public who have lost out, because the message from this decision is that Hong Kong appears closed to fresh aviation investment even when it is majority locally owned and controlled.

“At a time when aviation markets across Asia are opening up, Hong Kong is going in the opposite direction. Given the importance of aviation to global commerce, shutting the door to new competition can only serve the vested interests already installed in that market.”