New CEO for Jetstar Asia

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 12 years ago

New CEO for Jetstar Asia

By Matt O'sullivan

THE Qantas-backed Singaporean budget airline Jetstar Asia has named a former chief financial officer as the replacement for its well-respected chief executive for the past six years, Chong Phit Lian.

Just a day after Jetstar inked a deal with China Eastern to set up a low-cost affiliate in Hong Kong, the Singaporean operation appointed Barathan Pasupathi as its next chief executive.

Incoming Jetstar Asia CEO Barathan Pasupathi.

Incoming Jetstar Asia CEO Barathan Pasupathi.

Mr Pasupathi, a Singaporean citizen, was at Jetstar Asia between 2004 and 2007, before shifting to Kuwait to work for Jazeera Airways and later a German oil company in Singapore.

Ms Chong resigned as chief executive in December, and stepped down on February 1.

Jetstar Asia seconded Paul Daff, most recently the boss of Qantas' New Zealand subsidiary Jetconnect, to Singapore as Jetstar Asia's interim chief executive.

Mr Daff will remain until Mr Pasupathi takes up his new role on July 2.

Shares in Qantas rose 1.5¢ to $1.78 yesterday after analysts reacted positively to its plans to launch Jetstar Hong Kong next year as part of a 50:50 joint venture with Shanghai-based China Eastern.

Jetstar Asia chairman Dennis Choo said Mr Pasupathi, one of the budget airline's founding executives, had a ''first-hand understanding of our business as well as the aviation sector overall''.

The departure of Ms Chong was seen as a blow to Jetstar Asia as she was credited with helping boost routes from Singapore to other parts of Asia and making the carrier profitable after several years of losses.

Advertisement

Jetstar Asia's main rivals are Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger Airways and Malaysian budget airline AirAsia. It will also face competition from Singapore Airline's new budget airline, Scoot, which will begin daily services between Singapore and Sydney in June.

Jetstar Asia is the Australian airline's biggest operation outside Australia. The Singaporean company posted a pre-tax profit of $S18 million ($A14 million) for the year to June, its biggest profit since it began service in 2004.

In 2009, Qantas invested $S25 million to boost its stake in Jetstar Asia to 49 per cent and Mr Choo, a Singaporean businessman and long-time Qantas associate, raised his holding to 51 per cent by buying out minority shareholders, including the Singapore government's investment arm, Temasek.

Most Viewed in Business

Loading