Was it really ten years ago today that we launched Jetstar Japan?

Today, 3 July 2022, marks ten years since the first flight of Jetstar Japan.

As with any airline launch, it was of course, a momentous day. Flight GK111 from Tokyo Narita to Chitose (Sapporo) was however, the result of many a year dreaming, planning, projecting, building and implementing…for that first flight to depart with a full load of eager - and, unusually in Japanese circles, excited - passengers, was no easy feat.

The journey for me started back in 2010, two years before the first flight of July 2012. Jetstar Group - ably supported via our Qantas Group ownership and it’s excellent leadership and Board - were on the hunt for new investment opportunities.

Having passed up two very credible opportunities in Asia, our joint Qantas/Jetstar Strategy teams had opted to explore a potential joint venture with Japan Airlines.

JAL was arguably not the closest of our Asian partner airlines, nor were they going to be the easiest to work with in exploring the “art of the possible” (let alone the prospect of an active operational business unit), but, JAL did bring a lot to the party having been hugely influential and supportive of Jetstar Australia’s (JQ’s) foray into the lucrative leisure market between Japan and Australia. Indeed, JQ’s proposition was altered, solely for the Japanese market - all due to the influence of JAL (maybe, a sign of the times to come on JAL’s influence in Jetstar Japan - although time would tell).

In any case, we got down to planning on late 2010 and in working through the detail. JQ had a relatively deep and broad exposure to the Japanese market since 2008, having served markets like KIX-CNS, KIX-DRW-SYD, NRT-CNS-SYD etc…some would say we in Jetstar were more experienced in Japan than our owner, Qantas, but, that wouldn’t be fair, given that QF had gone through a lot of the hard yards that we in Jetstar hadn’t needed to - distribution and leisure sales alone, was one of the biggest challenges in cracking that market back then! (There were many more).

Fast forward to March 2011.

We were advancing start up plans pretty aggressively and aiming (at that stage) for a 3Q2012 launch - an 18 month lead time not an unreasonable proposition for a start up LCC that was to (later) break many ceilings in Japan. We had brought onboard a pretty talented senior team - many seconded from existing Jetstar or Qantas Group airline entities. We were also fortunate to have a fabulous pool of talented leaders and project managers from our Group Commercial or Group Operations teams; it was this team that I led and was very proud to have provided some of the early firepower.

However, the 7 March 2011 saw myself and Eileen Burnett-Kant, a colleague of mine on Jetstar’s Executive Team, fly north to Tokyo from Sydney on QF21; the soul objective being to recruit Jetstar Japan’s first ten executive / senior managers. These were managers and postholders who would fulfil key operational and regulatory posts that would either see us get an AOC, or, not….. (history tells us we did ok!).

After a few days interviewing in Shiodome’s Conrad Tokyo Hotel, Eileen and I believed we had our first batch of Jetstar Japan leaders. Shall we do another round? (This was the final in person round in the days where remote Skype calls were still “weird”). “No, Eileen, I’m happy”. “So I am, let’s get on with it and proceed to offer”, echoed Eileen - who of course as EM People, had to deal with the ensuing bureaucracy - whereas I just had to be certain of their competency and fit for a new LCC where all of our first 10 employees came from one off either JAL, ANA, JAL Express or Starflyer….. (In the words of my Aussie colleagues, “she’ll be right!”).

That Thursday (10 March 2011) we celebrated our efforts in the little bars around Azabujuban and Akasaka. Nothing extravagant was planned that evening, but some more of our colleagues from Australia had joined us - Bruce Buchanan, Jetstar’s GCEO, Vincent Hodder, our EM Strategy and my guvnor in Jetstar Japan as our Project Director, as well as our GCFO, Richard Moore and David Koczkar, Jetstar’s CCO. Little did we know what was about to hit….

The following day, 11 March started as normal, albeit a little dusty (maybe!). Later that day however, “dusty-ness”, was to be quickly changed out for survival. Unwittingly, that afternoon, we had been caught up in the aftermath of the Tōhuku earthquake and tsunami.

Very fortuitously, we had all planned to leave that afternoon/early evening from Narita/Haneda to Singapore/Sydney/Kuala Lumpur - that meant we were already at the airports just very soon after the massive (9.0 magnitude) offshore earthquake struck. It wasn’t until the following morning, that we collectively realised he magnitude of what had just happened.

I first called Richard Moore, followed by David Koczkar (“DK”) to check they were safe; we quickly confirmed that the team that only 24 hours before had been joyfully retiring to bed after a few drinks in celebratory mode, were now in shock and wondering what on earth had just happened.

I won’t play out here the following eight weeks as needless to say, many other quarters have done this far more justice than I ever could - it makes for harrowing reading and the after effects in Fukishima and its environs still hurt to this day.

After we got back on site, the usual issues eventuated / raised their head with the regulator (the very respectable JCAB) as well as with others, such as airports and vendors who didn’t necessarily understand (or want to understand) how our model differed from the rest of market.

The following months saw my colleagues and I, including the crackpot team I had sought counsel from, such as Seb Mackinnon, Cathy Sadler, Paul Hayler and Lee Barrett amongst others - all of whom could hold their own in Japanese negotiations - managing relationships, developing positions and building counter arguments, as much as building to an AOC set of requirements!

Reality is, that as a group of Aussies (some honorary only!) used to straight forward and direct decision making, starting an airline in partnership with Japan Airlines was never going to be easy. JAL were everything Jetstar was not….but, they grew on us immensely and brought so much to the party. Yes there were many disagreements - mostly commercially to be fair, little operationally - but for the most part, we had the governance, structures and processes to review, manage and escalate any business critical items. Where we did not, well….that’s for another time!

Thinking back now - I can’t quite believe it’s ten years ago - the experience of leading the Jetstar Japan operational start-up was arguably one of the best of my career and almost certainly helped shape me as a leader - defining relevant capabilities, promoting resilience and influencing my overall approach to management.

Starting an airline is not for the feint for heart; starting a business in Japan is not without its challenges; launching an airline business in Japan is surely madness - but no, we made it work and it continues to work.

Flight GK111 NRT-CTS on 3 July 2012 was the culmination of two years of hard slog, grit, determination, resilience, patience and commitment……nothing in life comes easy. To see the results of our work ten years on however, is massively rewarding.

Happy tenth birthday Jetstar Japan - here’s to the next ten years!