Australia's Qantas to close budget airline Jetstar Asia

Australia's Qantas to close budget airline Jetstar Asia Jetstar Asia will continue to operate flights until the end of July Singapore-based budget airline Jetstar Asia will close down at the end of July, its Australian owner Qantas has announced. The low-cost carrier has struggled with rising supplier costs, high airport fees and increased competition from other airlines in the region. Qantas says the closure will provide it with A$500m ($325.9m; £241.4m) to invest towards renewing its fleet of aircraft, adding that it will redeploy 13 planes for routes across Australia and New Zealand. The closure of Jetstar Asia will not impact its Australia-based Jetstar Airways operations, nor those of Jetstar Japan, according to a statement from Qantas.