Jetstar has announced a new fare agreement with the oneworld airline alliance.
From February 1 this year, Jetstar operated flights sold under the Qantas codeshare will be saleable by oneworld carriers and travel agents globally as part of oneworld itineraries. Parent Qantas currently codeshares on almost every Jetstar flight, allowing the arrangement to cover most of Jetstar’s Australia and New Zealand operations. The move will also allow customers to include Jetstar flights with oneworld fare products, such as itinerary combinations.
Jetstar’s fare agreement – which will add five Australian destinations and 56 routes across Australasia to the oneworld network – will initially apply to itineraries ticketed by oneworld carriers that have existing interline agreements with the airline, including Qantas, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, LAN and Royal Jordanian. However, plans are underway to extend the arrangement to itineraries being ticketed by other oneworld member airlines.
Jetstar already participates in Global Explorer, the round-the-world fare offered by all oneworld partners with a number of other airlines that are not members of the alliance, and also in the alliance’s ‘Visit Australia and New Zealand pass’ .
For passengers travelling on these fares, Jetstar will provide baggage allowances comparable to other participating airlines, through check of baggage between all international flights, through check of passengers between Qantas and Jetstar international flights, and on select services, complimentary inflight offerings such as meals and comfort packs.
Meanwhile, Jetstar has also signed an interline agreement with oneworld carrier Finnair.
The partnership will allow Finnair passengers to purchase a Jetstar, Jetstar Asia, Valuair or Jetstar Pacific flight as part of a single integrated transaction and travel itinerary, sold on a Finnair E-ticket. The move marks Jetstar’s 21st interline partnership.
For passengers travelling under the agreement, Jetstar will accommodate the Finnair baggage allowance, while for passengers connecting international to international flights, bags will be through tagged on select services.
Jetstar chief commercial officer David Koczkar said the Jetstar Group’s agreement with Finnair supported its pan Asian growth plans and would promote new one-stop links to Australia and New Zealand via Singapore for Finnair customers out of Finland and other European centres. “Such improved access and capacity to Australia and New Zealand services will enable the trans Tasman tourism sector to better tap into the niche, but growing Nordic tourism export market, now estimated at over $500 million and approaching 60,000 annual visitors to Australia,” Koczkar said.
