Budget airline to close after 20 years with more than 500 staff to lose jobs

A budget airline is set to close after more than twenty years operating flights around Asia.The Singapore-based Jetstar Asia will shut up shop at the end of July, with affected passengers to be offered full refunds.

The airline is 51% owned by Singapore firm Westbrook Investments, with the remainder held by Qantas. The company has struggled to remain a going concern amid a perfect storm of rising supplier costs, high airport fees and increased competition.

"We have seen some of Jetstar Asia's supplier costs increase by up to 200%, which has materially changed its cost base," said Qantas Group Chief Executive Vanessa Hudson in a statement.

The budget airline is expected to make a whopping A$35 million (£17m) loss this financial year.

The bombshell announcement will see more than 500 staff lose their jobs, although they are set to receive redundancy packages.

Jetstar Group chief executive Stephanie Tully said the company was focused on helping staff through the redundancy process and to help them find new roles in the industry.

The airline offered flights from Singapore to destinations in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The company will wind down its services over the next seven weeks and travellers will be notified if their flight is affected.

Jetstar Asia is currently contacting any passenger with a ticket for a flight after the July 31 closure date.

Some affected customers could be moved onto alternative flights operated by the Qantas Group.

The company is advising people who booked through a travel agent or separate airline to contact those providers directly.

The closure of the low-cost airline will allow Qantas to invest A$500m (£241.4m) in a new fleet of aircraft.

The company plans to redeploy 13 planes from the budget airline for routes across Australia and New Zealand.

Customers expressed their shock at Jetstar Asia's closure, with one client saying they were "very saddened to hear this news about a very warm, efficient, wonderful airline" in a post on the company's Facebook page.