Qantas consortium pulling out of Jetstar Hong Kong startup

Having waited since March 2012 to get a final decision from Hong Kong’s administrator Qantas, along with its business partners in the venture, China Eastern Airlines (CEA) and Hong Kong transport investment company Shun Tak Holdings have decided not to pursue the creation of a new low cost carrier, Jetstar Hong Kong. Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce said that “From a Qantas perspective, we won’t be investing any more funds in this airline.” From the onset the new setup had been undermined by continual opposition, the majority coming from both Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines (HKA).
It was in June this year that the definitive statement was issued by the the Hong Kong Air Transport Licensing Authority which was refusing to grant the required air operator’s certificate to Jetstar Hong Kong as it failed to comply with the requirement to have its “principal place of business in Hong Kong.” The situation was not helped by appeals and more submissions from Cathay and HKA and a public inquiry finally decided that any Jetstar subsidiary would probably be “unduly influenced” by both Qantas and CEA alike.
Joyce made claims that “There was a blatant application of rules for Jetstar Hong Kong that did not apply to other carriers. We . . . made sure that we met all of the rules that apply; if those rules were applied to Cathay, it would not be able to operate in Hong Kong today.”