Update on Jetstar Australian & New Zealand Services: Puyehue-Cordon Caulle Volcano

MELBOURNE, Australia, June 22 /Medianet International-AsiaNet/ --

Jetstar wishes to provide a further update (as at 1000 AEST / 1200 NZ) on its Australian domestic, New Zealand (trans tasman and domestic) and international services as a result of a volcanic ash cloud caused by Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in Chile.

Jetstar is closely monitoring the ash cloud, in conjunction with the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Jetstar is pleased to advise that services to and from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Newcastle will resume today, as detailed below.

OPERATIONS UPDATE FOR 22 JUNE 2011:

NEW ZEALAND

All flights to and from New Zealand (both domestic and trans tasman) will be cancelled for the remainder of today. A further update will be provided later today.

AUSTRALIA

Tasmania
Flights to and from Hobart and Launceston will be cancelled for the remainder of today. A further update will be provided later today.

Melbourne (Melbourne Avalon and Melbourne Tullamarine)
Flights to and from Melbourne Avalon and Melbourne Tullamarine will resume at approximately 11 AM AEST today.

Sydney
Flights to and from Sydney will resume at approximately 1400 AEST today.

Newcastle
Flights to and from Newcastle will resume at approximately 1400 AEST today.

Adelaide
Flights to and from Adelaide have resumed this morning (with the exception of Sydney and Melbourne restrictions as detailed above).

A full list of cancelled services for 22 June 2011 will be listed on Jetstar.com shortly.

Jetstar continues to closely monitor the situation and will provide further updates as information becomes available.

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 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
* From New Zealand (0800 800 995)
* From Indonesia (001 803 61 691)
* From USA (1866 397 8170)
* 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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