Jetstar has announced plans to increase its focus on South Australia and reorganise its operations in the Northern Territory. The airline intends to base four Airbus A320 aircraft in Adelaide from the end of March, and will establish a new cabin crew and pilot base in the city. Jetstar said in a statement that it
Hawaiian Airlines has announced that it will be adding a fourth flight to its weekly service schedule between Honolulu and Brisbane from March 31. “We recently celebrated one year as the only US carrier to offer non-stop service to Brisbane and the response we’ve received since then has exceeded our expectations,” said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Qantas’s credit rating from BBB minus, it’s lowest investment grade rating, to so-called junk status, but Qantas says it is “business as usual”. Separately, fellow ratings agency Moody’s said on Thursday night it had placed Qantas on negative watch but that it was maintaining its Baa3 investment
Qantas has asked the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to place its shares in an immediate trading halt. “The trading halt is requested pending receipt of information from Standard and Poor’s in relation to Qantas’s credit rating, which is likely to be materially price sensitive,” company secretary Taryn Morton wrote to the ASX. “Qantas requests that
Warren Truss, the minister responsible for the transport portfolio, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott have both used separate media engagements to hose down expectations that the federal government will provide financial support to Qantas. “The government isn’t a banker and there are no doubt lots of companies or private individuals that would like government to
Virgin Australia has issued a sharply worded statement disputing Qantas’s assertions that it benefits from having foreign government owned airlines as its major shareholders. “The proposition that Virgin Australia has access to cheaper capital by virtue of our shareholder base is completely false,” the statement reads, before noting that Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines
