Update on Jetstar Australian Services - 21 June

Update on Jetstar Australian Services: Puyehue-Cordon Caulle Volcano

MELBOURNE, Australia, June 21 /Medianet International-AsiaNet/ --

Jetstar wishes to provide a further update (as at 1000 AEST) on its Australian domestic and Trans Tasman services as a result of a volcanic ash cloud caused by Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in Chile.

While Australian airspace has been clear of ash since late last week, Jetstar has continued to closely monitor the situation, in conjunction with the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre and the Bureau of Meteorology. These assessments have predicted the return of the ash cloud over part of Australia today.

Based on the latest forecasts, Jetstar has cancelled all flights to/from Adelaide today.

All flights to/from Sydney (including Trans-Tasman services) and Newcastle scheduled after 1500 AEST have been cancelled for the rest of the day.

A full list of cancelled services for June 21 is listed at Jetstar.com.

All other Australian and New Zealand scheduled services are currently planned to operate.

Jetstar continues to closely monitor the situation and will provide a further update in regard to services for all these ports this afternoon.

Jetstar will be proactively contacting customers affected by cancelled flights via SMS or telephone.

OUR APPROACH

The safety of our passengers, our people and our operations is always Jetstar's number one priority.

Our approach to flying is based on the Qantas Group's high standards of safety and risk assessment. As a Qantas Group airline, Jetstar like Qantas has in place the same monitoring and assessment processes.

While Jetstar's decision to keep aircraft on the ground throughout this event has been a significant cost, our decision to suspend operations is based on our commitment to safety – safety always comes before schedule.

We never like causing disruption for our customers, but safety is something that Jetstar will never compromise on.

KEEPING YOU INFORMED

We encourage our customers to continue to check Jetstar.com, and Jetstar's twitter and facebook pages for regular updates on our services.

Booked Jetstar customers can check the status of their flight under the 'Flight Status' section of Jetstar.com.

WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?

Jetstar is liaising with affected passengers and offering them the following options free of charge:

*Defer travel to a later date. Travel must be completed by 31 August 2011.

*Re-routing to get passengers to their end destination. Travel must be completed by 31 August 2011.

*Arrange a Jetstar credit voucher or full refund to the value of any unused bookings.

Eligible Jetstar passengers are those who have an existing booking for travel and had their flight cancelled due to the recent ash clouds.

Customers wanting to obtain a Jetstar credit voucher as mentioned above can access our online credit voucher form on Jetstar.com.

All requests for flight re-bookings and refunds must be processed by our call centre. You can find the contact details below.

*From Australia (Freecall): 131 538
*Alternatively, call +61 3 9347 0091 (tolls will apply).

Jetstar is currently experiencing unprecedented call volumes to our call centre due to the magnitude of this event. In response, we have increased the number of staff at our call centre. We ask customers to please be patient as we deal with a large number of customer inquiries.

ENDS

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