HKG low cost venture knocked back by regulator.
Qantas has just issued a statement expressing its disappointment at a decision by the Hong Kong Air Transport Licensing Authority to reject an application for the establisment of Jetstar Hong Kong.
The low cost carrier’s application for a licence to operate scheduled air services out of HKG has been under consideration for more than two years, with Qantas ceo Alan Joyce saying “this is as disappointing for the shareholders as it is for the travellers that Jetstar Hong Kong planned to serve”.
Jetstar Hong Kong is a joint venture between Qantas, China Eastern Airlines and Shun Tak Holdings, with the QF Group investment in the airline carried at $10 millon as at 31 December 2014.
Joyce said the message from the decision was that Hong Kong appears closed to fresh aviation investment “even when it is majority locally owned and controlled”.
He said the Qantas Group would now work with its fellow shareholders to “review the enterprise” as a result of the negative ruling.
More details in today’s issue of Travel Daily.