Jetstar slams Changi Airport’s ‘unilateral’ move to relocate its flights to T4
SINGAPORE — Jetstar Airways on Friday (22 July) slammed the Changi Airport Group (CAG) for its unilateral move to relocate the low-cost airline’s flights to the air hub’s Terminal 4 later this year.
Earlier Friday, CAG released a statement to announce the restart of T4’s operations on 13 September. It said that 16 airlines will relocate to T4 in stages including Jetstar on 25 October.
In response to queries from Yahoo New Singapore, Jetstar, which operates in Singapore mainly at Changi’s T1 and to a lesser extent at T2, said, “We are extremely disappointed that the Changi Airport Group (CAG) has chosen to unilaterally announce a plan to relocate the Jetstar Group to Terminal 4 at Changi International Airport, before any agreement has been reached.”
The airline said a joint study was agreed to be undertaken last week and CAG’s announcement “completely disregards” the agreement and the impact of such a move on its flight operations.
Until an agreement is reached, Jetstar said it has no intention of moving and has informed CAG about its decision.
“While we remain committed to working with CAG, today’s announcement by the airport ignores our concerns and goes against the spirit of the long-standing partnership we have built over the years.”
In response to queries from Yahoo News Singapore, CAG said its engagement with Jetstar on its move to T4 began in 2019.
CAG said that to optimise the airport’s limited capacity across its four terminals, the best solution was to move Jetstar to T4 to support its growth and that of other airlines while ensuring that passenger experience is not compromised.
With traffic at Changi Airport strongly rebounding this year, CAG said it has to urgently rebalance the airport’s traffic across its terminals quickly in the coming months.
Noting that Jetstar currently operates mostly narrow-bodied aircraft, CAG said T4 is a "very good fit" for the airline, with 17 gates to support such aircraft.
"To facilitate the relocation, CAG has also accepted Jetstar’s suggestion to form a joint taskforce to ensure a smooth transition for Jetstar to operate in T4."
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