Jetstar to Shift Global Sales Team, Build Hangar in SIN

[ling_woo]

Interview in the Straits Times today:


Jetstar's information technology centre shifted from MEL to SIN a year ago.
Global sales team will shift to SIN in the coming weeks
A new hangar could to be built in SIN and be operational by 2014. The hangar will service both single-aisle an wide-bodied aircraft.
Alternatives to building a new hangar include working with Shaeco (subsidiary of a Hong Kong aircraft repair and maintenance firm) or ST Aerospace.
Jetstar has 1,000 employees and 20 aircraft based at SIN. Headcount expected to grow by 200 over the next few years.
Full article at The Straits Times (http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNews/Story/STIStory_755063.html)

[DrPepz]

For those of us not so blessed with paid Straits Times online subscriptions, here is the entire article


Jetstar to boost presence in S'pore
Karamjit Kaur, Aviation Correspondent
January 13, 2012
Straits Times
(c) 2012 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

It wants to cash in on regional boom in aviation industry

BUDGET airline Jetstar is taking key steps to firmly establish Singapore as its main business and operations hub.

It shifted its information technology centre from Melbourne to Singapore a year ago, and its global sales team will make a similar move in the coming weeks, group chief executive officer Bruce Buchanan said.

Jetstar, which operates three carriers - in Australia, Singapore and Vietnam - is also finalising plans to build its own aircraft hangar at Changi Airport.

Mr Buchanan knows that aircraft engineers, technicians and other industry stakeholders in Australia are not going to be happy with the plans. For some time now, they have been complaining about Jetstar's Asian focus, which they say has resulted in jobs leaving the country.

It is a 'sensitive political issue', Mr Buchanan told The Straits Times in an interview yesterday.

And he insisted the airline is still very much committed to Australia, where two-thirds of its total global workforce of about 7,000 people are based.

Citing an example, he said that when the new hangar in Singapore is up and running, possibly by 2014, the airline's current facility in Newcastle, Australia will not close, but will continue to maintain Jetstar's aircraft.

But while Jetstar will remain in Australia, he said, the reality is that Asia is where the growth is - and to cash in on the boom in the aviation industry, Jetstar's centre of gravity must be in the region. 'It is a natural evolution,' Mr Buchanan said. 'We can't be a Western or Australian-centric company if we want to grow and achieve success.'

The opportunities in Asia are mind- boggling, he said. In China alone, there are nearly 100 cities which Jetstar could consider as destinations in the next three to five years. Currently, it serves 10 Chinese destinations from its Singapore hub.

Jetstar has big plans in the coming years, Mr Buchanan revealed.

Next year, it will take delivery of its first few Boeing 787 Dreamliners, and while plans have not been confirmed, it is possible that at least one of them could be based in Singapore.

The new hangar planned for Changi will be able to service both single-aisle and wide-bodied aircraft like the Airbus 330 and, eventually, the B-787.

Several options are being considered for the new facility, Mr Buchanan said. Jetstar could decide to build and operate it on its own, or work with a partner - possibly Shaeco, a Singapore subsidiary of a Hong Kong aircraft repair and maintenance firm, or ST Aerospace.

Both firms currently maintain Jetstar's fleet in Singapore.

The airline's decision to firmly plant its flag in Singapore is an important feather in the cap for Singapore's aviation sector, industry watchers said.

Mr Buchanan did not say how much will be invested in Singapore in the coming years, but experts reckon it will be more than half a billion dollars, including the cost of the new aircraft to be based here.

The airline currently has about 1,000 employees in Singapore and 20 planes parked at Changi Airport.

Headcount is expected to grow by up to 200 a year over the next few years.

A spokesman for Changi Airport Group, Mr Ivan Tan, said: 'We look forward to working with the airline to enhance its hub operations at Changi Airport.'

[Icarus2001]

The opportunities in Asia are mind- boggling, he said.They clearly enjoyed their Vietnam experience so much with Jetstar Pacific that they are keen to repeat the experience again and again.:D

[gobbledock]

More foolish antics. Did the experts say JQ will 'invest' up to $500 million locally in SIN? Hmmm. The term 'Invest' takes on a whole new meaning in Asia!
But no worries, maybe that is why AJ has kept the two kiddies who screwed up the VN operation? Give them a shot at SIN??

[DrPepz]

I doubt he has to pay any bribes in SIN of all places, or pay anyone here off, but he's trying to fight SQ in their home ground. SQ was sleeping from 2004 to 2010 and didn't do *a thing* as Jetstar Asia expanded, got more rights to Jakarta than Tiger, got more rights to Ho Chi Minh City than SQ etc.

SQ is not sleeping anymore.

[Seabreeze]

Make no mistake, sing inc will make life hard for Jetstar in many ways; and covert and sometimes overt influences to ensure competition is hampered will be implemented at many levels, while sing inc keeps up the smiles at top levels. Sing businessmen are as ruthless as any you will ever find.....

Optimism about any australian development in singapore is badly misplaced. Jetstar will slowly get screwed and stewed in such a way that more and more Qantas cash will have to be invested. Just watch...

Seabreeze

[DrPepz]

Seabreeze: The Singapore govt invited QF to set up Jetstar Asia in 2004 when SIA had a 50% marketshare out of Changi. Today, SIA's marketshare has declined to 35%, and the Singapore govt has always stated that between SIA and more traffic through SIN, they would choose more traffic through SIN even if it is at SIA's expense.

Having worked for Changi Airport in the past, we actively sought to grow other airlines' traffic through SIN, and gave the QF Group a lot of care and attention.

Singapore has nothing to gain from inviting Jetstar to base here, then seek to actively screw them over and have thousands of Singaporeans lose their jobs.

SIA might lobby against Jetstar's expansion, just as QF has every right to lobby to keep SQ out of TransPacific routes, but Singapore is no Vietnam, and trust me, Singaporeans have as much trouble dealing in Malaysia and Vietnam as Australians do.

In the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index:

Ranking of economies - Doing Business - World Bank Group (http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings)

SIN is 1, Australia 15, Malaysia 18 and Vietnam is 98. Under the ranking for "Protecting Investors", Vietnam ranks 166 of 183 countries.

[Icarus2001]

On the Corruption Perception Index...

Singapore 9.2

Australia 8.8

Vietnam 2.9

Zero is bad, 10 is clean.

Corruption Perceptions Index: Transparency International (http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2011/)

[thrustpig]

Is it true jetstar asia have lost some key individuals to scoot?? I wonder where scoot will get their cabin crew, tech crew, office staff etc from??

[Yarra]

"But no worries, maybe that is why AJ has kept the two kiddies who screwed up the VN operation? Give them a shot at SIN??"

Hardly they that screwed up, they were set up.....

[gobbledock]

Wrong. They were not set up. They failed because Joyce and Buchanan are blinded by arrogance, ignorance and love of their own reflections in the mill pond.
A two bit operation run by two bit managers which ended in tears.
Don't be fooled by the Vietnamese, had an endless tsunami of greenbacks flooded their shoreline the entire exercise would not have turned into the steaming pile it became.

To say there was some kind of 'set up' is wrong. However, to say there was a couple of 'fall guys' is correct. Somebody at the end of the day was going to pay the piper and we all know now who the sacrificial lambs were. Those two youngsters tossed a coin and lost. It is standard business practice to groom, mentor and mold up and coming potential managers. That's what happened with 'dumb and dumber' in their career. But the final test is when the 'organisation' sends the potential future executives out in the field to prove their worth! Thats what happened with these two, but they failed dismally. Had they succeeded they likely would have spent another year or two in the third world before being summoned back to AUS in a plum role on top dollar. That's
how the game is played.

Were dumb and dumber deliberately set up by The Rat or the powered to be in Vietnam? NO. Were dumb and dumber the fall guys, hell yeah. It's called welcome to playing in the big kids sandpit kiddies.

[Yarra]

It appears to be that it is correct then, they were set up if they were fall guys. fall guys get set up through no support.......to say they are "Dumb and Dumber" seem a bit harsh......

[gobbledock]

Wrong again. Dumb and dumber were the fall guys in the sense that there is always an 'accountable manager' for when something goes pear shaped. These two were the accountable managers. Every airline structure is stacked so that the CEO is distanced from accountability, in other words his head doesn't get chopped off when any other part of the organization screws up. The fact that a CEO has structured fall guys does not mean that those lower level managers are or have been deliberately 'set up' to fail. 'Set up' and 'fall guy' are certainly two different entities in a business. However in fairness to Yarra it is quite easy to combine the two when necessary and set up a manager to fail, I've seen that on a number of occasions. But in this particular case in Vietnam the entire debacle occurred because of a lack of thinking, understanding of business and culture, strategy and planning by the top echelon at Team Rat. Dumb and dumber were not part of that management level.

[HF3000]

So by that reasoning, they were "set up" by incompetents, failed to see it due to their own incompetence, then were subsequently made to be the "fall guys"...

Won't happen at FarQ.... :sad:

[Capt Kremin]

Any truth in the rumor that Scoot are targeting JStar pilots with substantially better T and C's?

[scrubba]

hey, no probs, Boston Bruce will just import replacements from India....:ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

[DrPepz]

When Tiger had their pilot shortage in SIN, they tried to replace them with Indonesian pilots who apparently all failed the CAAS exams, so that was a no go. In the end Tiger had to offer short term contracts at insane salaries that made even SIA Captains green with envy to help them tide through those times.

I flew Jetstar Asia/Valuair 4 times in the past week. First flight had an Italian Captain and a Japanese FO. Second had a South American Captain and British FO. Third had a (I think) Southern European Captain and a British FO too, and the last flight had a European Captain and a Singaporean FO (He could have been Malaysian, the accent's the same).

Nearly all Singaporean pilots fly with the SIA Group of Airlines, and with Scoot coming up and Jetstar wanting more pilots, I'm not quite sure where everyone's going to find the pilots they need!

[AROVET LI]

It is a 'sensitive political issue', Mr Buchanan told The Straits Times in an interview yesterday.
That would have to be the understatement of the year and it's only January.
On the Corruption Perception Index...

Singapore 9.2

Australia 8.8

Vietnam 2.9

Zero is bad, 10 is clean.
I think any political opposition in Singapore would beg to differ.

[neville_nobody]

On the Corruption Perception Index...

Singapore 9.2

Australia 8.8

Vietnam 2.9

Zero is bad, 10 is clean.


It just means that people in Singapore and Australia don't get caught..:}

[DrPepz]

These indexes measure things like "enforceability of contracts", "existence of black market" 'Having to pay bribes to low level staff to get things done" "Existence of transparent procurement processes in government departments" and things like that. They do not measure political freedom, and while it is true that countries with low political freedom are generally very corrupt, Singapore is probably the exception rather than the norm.

One would generally agree that in Singapore, as with Australia, there is strong enforeceability of contracts, no existence of black markets, there is no need to pay bribes to low level staff to get things done, and there exists transparent procurement processes in government departments.

Corruption in developed countries generally takes place in such clever and subtle ways, that it is impossible to prove. For example, if you have access to a perfect flow of information, why do you need to take a cent from anyone? And most politicians and high ranking civil servants know things before anyone else.

The Qantas Group (incl Jetstar) hub in Singapore has brought a lot of benefits to Singapore's economy, and has helped grow traffic through SIN, as SIA's pax numbers have only grown 1% per annum for the past decade. Without the QF Group hub here, if we only depended on SQ, overall pax traffic would have stagnated. There are also routes where Jetstar has more frequencies than SQ (4 to Ho Chi Minh instead of 2 for SQ) and to Jakarta - TR has 2 and 3K/VF have up to 4 on some days too.

The most ridiculous thing though is QF still has not started to coordinate schedules with 3K. You can't book a London-Bali ticket on the QF website, neither can you book London-Penang, London-Phuket and so on.