“By getting together and focusing on areas where we can actually reduce costs we think it’s a really exciting opportunity. We have identified… many hundreds of millions of dollars of cost saving opportunities, and we think that is an exciting opportunity for us as we launch this partnership going forward,” said Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan.

Australian JetStar will share passenger handling services with Malaysian AirAsia and are also planning to buy aircrafts and maintenance supplies together.

JetStar is the largest long-haul budget carrier in the world, operating 60 aircrafts while AirAsia flies to 60 destinations with its 85 aircrafts.

Should we expect even lower prices on airfare or will the alliance reduce competition and diminish the battle for the lowest prices? That remains to be seen.

Glen Bracegirdle and Kathryn Beaton, the blind couple, were denied boarding at Melbourne airport because they were accompanied by their seeing-eye dog, according to Airline Reporter. Despite the fact JetStar’s policy allows dogs on-board, the clerk behind the check-in counter repeatedly shouted “no dogs”.

Shocked by the clerk’s behavior, the couple rapidly booked tickets on a flight from a different airline; later they received a formal apology from JetStar and free tickets on their flights. Despite this, the couple still intends to report incident to the Human Rights Commission.

”People with disability have the same right to travel by air as the rest of the population,” said Bill Shorten, the Australian government’s parliamentary secretary for disabilities. “They should not be treated like children or as an inconvenience.”

This is not the only time JetStar shamelessly treats passengers with disabilities. Last month, champion disabled athlete Kurt Fearnley had his wheelchair seized by the company and crawled through Brisbane Airport protesting to the airline’s decision.

The girl did not give out her name, but the flight attendant looked her up on Facebook using details from her records and sent her several friend requests within a few hours from the flight. The girl’s mother is said to have complained to the airline about this violation of privacy.

“He’s accessing the names of passengers, particularly my daughters who are underage, and then he’s using that information to contact them. I find that really disturbing,” the mother told ABC.

She says that the flight attendant still sends her daughter messages, asking why she didn’t respond to his friend request. She also expressed her concerns about other underage passengers that might have been the victim of the man.

“I am just worried about – particularly during the school holidays with teenagers flying all over the country on their own – that maybe there’s been some impressionable girls who have said ‘an older flight attendant, we’ll add him’”.

“And I don’t know where he’s going with this, you know. If the girls had added him, would he then say, ‘let’s meet?’”

A JetStar spokesman said the airline is investigating the complaint and are interviewing their employee today about the issue.

Jetstar management are expeditiously looking into the matter at question,” Jetstar spokesman, Simon Westaway, said. (via ABC)

“We are viewing the allegations as serious but it’s important that we get all the information together and ensure that we’re dealing with the facts of the matter.”

The new flights translate into 1,200 new seats every week serviced by Jetstar’s seventh A330-200, equipped with 265 seats in economy and 38 seats in premium. Apart from flights to Thailand, passengers will also benefit from increased frequency on the following routes:

• Sydney Bali increased from 4 times a week to daily flights
• Melbourne to Bali increased from 2 times a week to 3 times a week
• Sydney to Honolulu increased from 4 times a week to 5 times a week

JetStar CEO, Bruce Buchanan, said the changes offers the perfect opportunity to family that wish to travel on a budget during their summer holidays.

“We believe these new services will be met with strong demand from leisure travellers who want to get away over the Christmas and New Year holiday period on a low fares break. There”s a massive opportunity … to get a lot more capacity in those regions, and we know there”s a latent demand, because whenever we”ve gone into those markets and deployed Jetstar capacity, we”ve seen a strong uptake”

Thailand was the second most popular destination for Australians last summer, following Indonesia, with more than 378,000 visitors over the 12-month period.

Earlier, JetStar Asia, the airline’s Asian offshoot based in Singapore, announced that it will operate two daily flights, Singapore to Phuket, starting December 15th, offering over 6,200 seats to and from Phuket each week. Jetstar, a company owned by Qantas Airways Ltd, benefited from the rise of airtraffic in Asia, with one of the most recognized brand in the area. (via ANI)