Jetstar statement regarding former employee
Jetstar can confirm that it recently dismissed an A330 First Officer following multiple breaches of Jetstar’s Code of Conduct and the terms of this individual’s employment arrangement under an Enterprise Agreement (EBA).
As is Jetstar’s common practice, the company sought to resolve the issue with this particular employee on numerous occasions but there was no engagement, nor acknowledgment, that an issue existed.
The employee chose to publicly make incorrect accusations on multiple and separate occasions against Jetstar with the effect of misleading the travelling public.
Jetstar Australia and New Zealand Chief Executive Officer David Hall said the airline had an embedded and healthy culture across its entire organization which actively encouraged all employees to report and discuss any issues and concerns in relation to safety.
“We will never, nor have, taken action against any employee for raising safety concerns - we welcome genuine engagement regarding safety from any part of our workforce – without fear or favour,” Mr Hall said.
“We receive thousands of safety reports and we welcome and value active employee reporting. Recent examples include high levels of internal safety reports, employees providing feedback via safety surveys and employee submissions to the upcoming Senate Inquiry.
“Safety has and always remains our number one priority at Jetstar.
“We welcome and value active employee reporting, and a culture of voluntary reporting is at the centre of all our safety systems.”
Mr Hall said numerous mistruths were being promulgated by the former employee to mislead the public.
“In the past, and moving forward, our pilots based in Singapore achieve better take home pay in comparison to our Australian pilots,” Mr Hall said.
“Assertions of a 50 per cent discrepancy in pilot pay between Australia and Singapore or circumvention of existing industrial law are patently false.
“We continue to attract some of the best pilots with extremely low attrition levels across our business because of what we offer including good salaries, growth opportunities, job security, career progression and the attraction of a wide and diverse operation.
“The piece of paper which our pilots are employed under has absolutely no bearing on their performance, which is upheld to the absolute highest of standards.
“Jetstar management actively sought to resolve this issue on numerous occasions but was unsuccessful.
“We regret that we were forced to take action in relation to this matter.”
About Jetstar Group
Jetstar first took to the skies in 2004 and has since flown more than 350 million customers across an extensive international and domestic network. The Jetstar Group is made up of Jetstar Airways (subsidiary of the Qantas Group) in Australia and New Zealand, Jetstar Asia in Singapore, and Jetstar Japan in Japan. A leading low-fares airline, Jetstar is committed to offering everyday low fares to enable more people to fly to more places, more often. As one of Asia Pacific’s fastest-growing airline brands, Jetstar was voted Best Low-Cost Airline in Asia Pacific in 2021 and was recognized for its excellent flight safety records and services when listed on the "2022 World's Top 10 LCC" released by Airline Ratings.