JETSTAR Hong Kong was met with resistance from Hong Kong-based carriers when plans for the LCC were first announced in 2012. Another spanner has been thrown in the works as its application for a licence to operate scheduled flights has been denied.
The city’s Air Transport Licensing Authority rejected Jetstar Hong Kong on the grounds that the carrier’s majority foreign ownership make-up meant its main place of business was not in Hong Kong, reported The Australian.
An airline is only allowed an operating licence if Hong Kong is made its principal place of business and decision-making centre, according to Hong Kong law.
Jetstar Hong Kong is a joint venture between Hong Kong’s publicly listed Shun Tak Holdings, China Eastern Airlines and the Qantas Group, each holding one-third of the shares.
A Qantas Group press release said Shun Tak ultimately holds control of the airline with 51 per cent of voting rights, while 70 per cent of the Jetstar Hong Kong board is from Hong Kong.
Reacting to the news, Qantas said it “will work with its fellow shareholders in Jetstar Hong Kong to review the enterprise”.
Meanwhile Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said: “It’s the travelling public who have lost out, because the message from this decision is that Hong Kong appears closed to fresh aviation investment even when it is majority locally owned and controlled.
“At a time when aviation markets across Asia are opening up, Hong Kong is going in the opposite direction. Given the importance of aviation to global commerce, shutting the door to new competition can only serve the vested interests already installed in that market.”
