Regional Round-Up
Jetstar Hong Kong in regulatory limbo
December 1st 2014
Stalled Jetstar Hong Kong, a proposed Hong Kong budget carrier, said last month that many of its pilots have either resigned or been redeployed because the airline has been waiting nearly three years for the Hong Kong authorities to issue it with an air operator’s certificate (OAC). Read More » The OAC application has faced fierce opposition from Cathay Pacific Airways, which argues that the LCC’s true head office is in Australia and therefore the application to base itself in Hong Kong breaches the Basic Law of the territory. Jetstar’s CEO, Edward Lau, told Reuters his airline had not been “advised of a hearing date as yet.” The LCC has sold six of its nine new A320s as the AOC process has lingered on. A source close to the CEO said the joint-venture partners, Qantas, China Eastern Airlines and Hong Kong local investment group Shun Tak, “are growing increasingly weary.”
