Jetstar launches recruitment drive amid continued OTP headaches

Billed as one of the largest cabin crew recruitment drives in the low-cost carrier’s history, the plan will see Jetstar operate almost 40 training schools across the country, and is part of Qantas Group’s ambition to create 8500 new operational roles over the next 10 years.

“It’s been fantastic to welcome new recruits with such a variety of skills and experience. We have people joining us with backgrounds in health care, hospitality and retail, who are all excited to travel as part of their career,” said Jetstar’s Head of Customer Experience, Jennifer Armor.

Jetstar has increased its staffing levels in customer service, engineering and operational areas by up to 20 per cent over the past year as it attempts to improve on-time performance and reliability.

The announcement comes not long after BITRE data showed Jetstar to be “considerably worse” for cancellations than other airlines, according to the ACCC, with an 8.1 per cent cancellation rate in April 2023 compared to an industry average of 3.9 per cent. Only 59.7 per cent of Jetstar flights arrived on time and 57.1 per cent departed on time in April.

Jetstar last month announced overhauls to check-in, bag drop and boarding deadlines in an effort to improve its on-time performance. Chief Operating Officer Matt Franzi acknowledged the airline’s performance “hasn’t been up to scratch” and said Jetstar is hard at work improving punctuality and reliability while keeping airfares as low as possible.

“To improve our performance, we’re recruiting more airport staff, cabin crew and engineering team members and making changes to our check-in, bag drop and boarding times, to bring them in line with other low-cost carriers around the world,” he said.

“Everyone across the airline is committed to getting Jetstar to its best while delivering the lowest possible fares so our customers can fly to more places, more often.”