Jetstar Asia to stay in T1 for now, with CAG set to make announcement soon
Jetstar Asia passengers will continue to fly from Changi Airport’s Terminal 1 for now, beyond the initial scheduled Oct 25 date when the budget airline was supposed to shift its operations to Terminal 4.
This is amid an ongoing disagreement between Changi Airport Group (CAG) and Jetstar over the move, which the airline rejected. The Singapore-based airline relies on connections with other carriers operating out of T1, including Qantas and Emirates.
A CAG spokesman told The Straits Times on Sunday that “we will make an announcement soon”, confirming that the slated move will not happen by Tuesday.
He added that an agreement is yet to be finalised, although the joint study between CAG and Jetstar to ease the airline’s relocation has been concluded.
Jetstar’s shift has been talked about since July, when CAG released a list of 16 airlines it said would be using the reopened T4.
These included carriers like Cathay Pacific and Korean Air from Sept 13, followed by AirAsia Group and others, so that the airport can spread flights across its terminals and ease congestion as operations rebound from the pandemic.
But Jetstar, the last to have been moved on Oct 25, said CAG’s decision was made “unilaterally”, prompting consultations that lasted three months.
No details of the discussions have been made public, although CAG has promised to make special provisions as much as possible to cater to the needs of Jetstar’s passengers.
At the end of August, Transport Minister S. Iswaran first gave a hint that the Oct 25 deadline likely would not be met, when asked by reporters. He said it was “important to do this well rather than do this fast”, even if it it meant taking “a little bit more time”.
Jetstar Asia is jointly owned by Singapore investment company Westbrook Investments and Australian carrier Qantas.
It uses Singapore as its South-east Asia hub, with many of its passengers flying in on longer-haul flights on carriers like Qantas, before taking Jetstar Asia flights within the region.
If it moves to T4, its passengers will have a slightly longer travelling time among terminals. Shuttle buses between T4 and other terminals for transiting passengers run every 10 to 13 minutes.
For the first seven months of this year, Jetstar Group contributed 4 per cent of Changi Airport’s traffic – the third most after the Singapore Airlines Group and AirAsia Group.
It now operates about half the number of planes it utilised pre-Covid-19.
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