Qantas sends relief team to Vietnam

Qantas has parachuted managers in to take over positions at its troubled Vietnamese joint venture, Jetstar Pacific, as two of its executives enter their fifth month of being barred from leaving the country.

Ms Marsilli and Mr Freeman stepped down from their roles at Vietnam’s second-largest airline in early January but remain on Qantas’s payroll. They will take up positions at Qantas or Jetstar when they return to Australia, but the airline is no closer to saying when this will be.

Apart from Mr Cameron, at least half a dozen other Qantas staff have been sent to fill engineering, safety and finance roles at Jetstar Pacific since the controversy over hedging losses and safety concerns first came to light in early January. Mr Cameron began work in Ho Chi Minh City a few weeks ago.

The future of the Jetstar brand on the Vietnamese airline’s aircraft also remains unclear. Vietnamese media reported last month that the country’s Civil Aviation Administration had banned local airlines from using brands and logos of foreign airlines on their aircraft.

Qantas’s corporate affairs chief, David Epstein, said the airline continued to make ”strong representations to Vietnamese authorities” about the plight of Ms Marsilli and Mr Freeman. ”We are 100 per cent confident of their position in Vietnamese and Australian law and we hope the matter will draw to a close soon,” Mr Epstein said.

A full-time replacement for Mr Freeman is yet to be appointed but it is understood his role is likely to be filled by a Vietnamese. Le Song Lai has effectively assumed the role of chief executive, replacing Luong Hoai Nam, who was arrested in January over allegations he caused serious losses at the airline.

Jetstar Pacific has about 1000 staff, the vast majority of whom are Vietnamese.

Qantas has built its stake in Jetstar Pacific to 27 per cent since taking an 18 per cent investment in July 2007. The rest of the airline is owned by the government-owned State Capital Investment Corporation, the Saigon Tourist Company and Mr Nam. Jetstar Pacific’s main competitor is the state-owned Vietnam Airlines.

The Australian airline has insisted it remains committed to Vietnam, but at the very least it still has to consider whether to raise its stake in Jetstar Pacific from 27 to 30 per cent.

While Vietnamese authorities investigate losses at Jetstar Pacific, the boss of the no-frills airline’s New Zealand operations, Jason Cameron, has taken over as chief operations officer from Daniela Marsilli. The 43-year-old Adelaide-born executive and Jetstar Pacific’s chief financial officer, Tristan Freeman, were prevented from returning to Australia just before Christmas.

The Australian pair’s plight remains uncertain despite Vietnamese authorities nearing the end of their four-month investigation into $31 million in fuel-hedging losses at Jetstar Pacific in 2008 .

Sydney Morning Herald

Tags: Jetstar Pacific, Qantas, Vietnam aviation, Vietnam aviation industry