Jetstar surprised all and sundry last week with an application to the IASC for traffic rights for new flights to the Philippines starting in November 2025. Jetstar plans to operate 3x weekly flights between Perth and Manila, and 3x weekly flights between Brisbane and Cebu, utilising the A321LR.
This is not Jetstar’s first foray into the Phillipines, having briefly operated 3x weekly A320 flights between Sydney and Manila via Darwin (in 2011), and Darwin-Manila-Tokyo between 2012 and 2014. In hindsight, these seem rather exotic! In order to help contextualise Jetstar’s move let’s have a brief look at the Australia-Philippines market as well as Jetstar’s emerging A321LR strategy.