Jetstar Airways

Is Jetstar safe?

Yes. Jetstar Airways has never had a fatal accident and has never lost an aircraft. It flies under Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), within the Qantas Group, and its 97 jets are all modern Airbus or Boeing types. We score it 87, close to Qantas at 89 and Virgin Australia at 88.

The points it loses come from the flight deck. Australian and New Zealand investigators have published several reports on Jetstar approaches and go-arounds that went wrong, and some findings pointed at company procedures rather than individual pilots.

Which Jetstar does this page cover?

Jetstar is a brand used by more than one airline. This page scores Jetstar Airways, code JQ, the Australian airline the Qantas Group owns outright, including its trans-Tasman and New Zealand domestic flights. It does not cover Jetstar Japan (GK), a separate Japanese airline part-owned by Japan Airlines; Qantas agreed in 2026 to sell its one-third stake, with the deal due by the end of June 2027. Jetstar Asia, based in Singapore, stopped flying in July 2025 and sent its 13 A320s back to Australia.

The incidents that cost points

Jetstar's accident list is almost empty: the only ASN entry is a 2013 ground collision at Melbourne, when a Virgin Australia 737 being pushed back hit a Jetstar A320 waiting to enter its gate. The investigation reports tell more:

• Christchurch, August 2019. An A320 from Wellington descended below the 2,500-foot minimum safe altitude on the arrival route. New Zealand's TAIC found the crew had lost track of their position, and that Jetstar's procedures did not encourage use of the automated descent mode that would have prevented it.
• Sydney, June 2025. An A321 from Bali floated and drifted left in a crosswind. The captain called a go-around, then moved their own sidestick while the first officer was flying, which set off a "dual input" alert and led to the flaps being retracted out of sequence. No flight limits were exceeded.
• Hervey Bay, August 2025. An A320 flew an unstable approach and landed. The ATSB found a known software fault had given wrong vertical guidance, that Jetstar had deferred the fix for nearly five years while relying on pilots to remember a workaround, and that the crew used an outdated code to switch on the runway approach lights.
• Sydney, August 2026. In moderate turbulence on a night approach, an A321neo's angle-of-attack protection triggered and the aircraft climbed nearly 500 feet before the captain lowered the nose by hand and re-engaged the autopilot. The ATSB later closed its investigation without a full report.

In May 2024 an A320 veered briefly onto the grass at Christchurch after landing. TAIC's final report (March 2026) traced it to a hydraulic pipe damaged in transit before it was fitted, which cost the aircraft its nosewheel steering; it also found that Jetstar's procedure, which let the captain try to steer off the runway with brakes and rudder in that situation, added risk. The latest event was not Jetstar's doing: on 7 October 2026 a van entered the runway at Townsville as a Jetstar A320 crossed the threshold about 50 feet up, and the ATSB has opened a serious incident investigation.

How old is the Jetstar fleet?

The Qantas Group annual report lists 97 Jetstar aircraft in Australia and New Zealand at 30 June 2026: 50 A320s of the older ceo generation, 6 A321ceos, 25 A321LRs, 5 A320neos and 11 Boeing 787-8s. The 30 new-generation narrow-bodies already carry about 47% of Jetstar's narrow-body capacity, and the first A321XLR is planned for the 2029 financial year. Qantas does not publish an average age for Jetstar, so we score the mix: a third of the narrow-bodies are new-generation jets, against about 15% of the Qantas mainline fleet (7 A321XLRs and 14 787-9s out of 138).

Who checks Jetstar?

CASA certifies Jetstar and Australia is in FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary. Unlike Qantas, Jetstar is not an IATA member, so IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary is not automatic, and the IOSA registry blocked our check. The ATSB and TAIC publish detailed reports even on minor events, which is why Jetstar's incident list is long and why we can see the findings above.

Flying Jetstar: what helps

• Pick the main airport when you can. Several Jetstar events happened at small regional fields with no tower and pilot-activated lighting: Hervey Bay above, and Ballina, where an A320 needed three approaches in 2018 after configuration errors. They are safe to use, but they leave less margin for crew error than Sydney or Brisbane.
• Check the flight number. JQ flights are Jetstar Airways; GK flights in Japan are Jetstar Japan, a separate airline with its own record and regulator.

How we scored it

The accident record (96) carries Jetstar: no deaths or write-offsHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. Oversight (88) is strong but IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary is unconfirmed, and the fleet (80) is renewing well. Incidents (70) cost the most, because investigators found procedure and crew-handling problems in several approaches since 2019. The environment scores 82. Overall 87.