Carry On: News for business travellers

Jetstar drops long-haul Asian routes
Jetstar is dropping two of its intra-Asia long-haul flights while boosting them out of Melbourne. From November 1, the four weekly services between Singapore and Osaka, Japan, will cease, as will the three weekly services between Singapore and Beijing from November 30. Jetstar will continue to service Osaka with up to 14 flights via Taipei and four a week via Manila.

From December 14, twice weekly direct flights will start from Melbourne to Phuket, increasing to three times a week from March March 2014.

From December 19 an extra flight will be added to the three weekly Melbourne-Honolulu route, while Melbourne-Singapore will increase from five to six times a week from December 18. All these services will be operated by A330 aircraft.

Meanwhile, Jetstar says further changes to its timetable will occur later in the year as it takes delivery of the first three of its 14 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Qantas upgrades business travel website
Qantas has created a dedicated portal for Qantas Business Direct customers, Australian Business Traveller reports. It enables business travellers – or rather, the people who organise their travel – to go well beyond the scope of their Frequent Flyer profile.

New features include expenditure by month or year and it allows the export of all relevant booking particulars in bulk – including passenger, journey, ticket, fare and tax details – in Microsoft Excel format, so the data can be more easily searched, incorporated into reports and even exported to another application.

Air NZ to lift Virgin Australia stake
Air New Zealand says it has no immediate intention of exercising its right to move to a 25.9% stake in Virgin Australia but it has not ruled out doing so in the next year.

In June, Air New Zealand lodged a substantial shareholding notice showing it had increased its voting power in Virgin from 19.9% to 22.9% under takeover creep provisions that allow a 3% increase in shareholding every six months. But it did not take physical delivery of the shares while it waited for the green light from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, which has ruled it will it not oppose a 6% increase in its stake.

The latest decision comes after this week’s extension of the two airlines’ trans-Tasman alliance for another five years. Meanwhile, Etihad – another major shareholder in Virgin Australia – has been reported to be also increasing its stake. It has stated an intended to raise its shareholding to the 19.9% limit allowed under its current approval. Singapore Airlines with 19.9% is another major shareholder along with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.