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Jetstar Pacific told to quit using the orange star and ‘Jet’ logo
A year after forging a working agreement with Australia’s discount airline, Jetstar, and changing its name to Jetstar Pacific Airlines (JP), the Civil Aviation Authority has told Vietnam’s first budget airline it cannot use the familiar Jetstar logo.
CAAV – the unit of the Ministry of Transport that regulates commercial airlines -- reportedly believes that JP’s continued use of the logo ‘Jetstar’ (or ‘Jet’) and the orange star may cause people to confuse the Vietnamese airline with the Australian one.
Is Jetstar Pacific violating Vietnamese law?
In May 2008, the former Pacific Airlines announced that it would henceforth operate as “Jetstar Pacific (JP),” reflecting its cooperation agreement with Jetstar Airways, a discount airline belonging to the Australian Qantas group. The name of the airline written down in its current business license is ‘Jetstar Pacific Airlines.’ JP has been using ‘Jetstar’ (or “Jet’) and the orange star on its aircraft, ticket and in all advertisement and marketing campaigns.
In short, Jetstar Pacific and Jetstar have done everything possible to forge a common ‘brand’ and integrated route structure.
Though JP got approval from other Vietnamese government agencies to use the three brand names Jetstar, Jet (with star) and Starclass, CAAV is not reconciled. Nguoi Lao Dong, an HCMC newspaper, reports that CAAV fears that people will perceive Jetstar (the Aussie airline) as having the right to provide service within Vietnam.
CAAV has emphasized that Jetstar is only authorized to serve cities in Vietnam within the framework of the Vietnam-Australia bilateral aviation agreement. (Currently, it is allowed to fly only to HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport.)
On the air transport service license granted by the Ministry of Transport, there is no information about the symbol ‘JP.’ Therefore, CAAV issued an official letter #3398 that instructed JP to register its symbol and add information on the symbol into the license. The symbol of JP must be distinct, and not susceptible to confusion with any other airlines.
CAAV’s parent body, the Ministry of Transport, is said to have reported to the Prime Minister its concern that permitting JP to use the same logos as Jetstar sets a bad precedent. It may induce Vietnam’s five other domestic airlines to cooperate with foreign airlines, MOT is said to argue, and if so, Vietnam’s aviation market may turn into a common market for foreign air carriers, with the result that Vietnam will not be able to develop national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines into a leading in Asia-Pacific airline as planned.
Other ministries don’t see a problem
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Danh Vinh said that JP and Jetstar Airways have agreement on using brand name and there has not been any problem of unhealthy competition between them. The Ministry of Science and Technology said that it will need social survey on whether the using of the symbol and brand name lead to misunderstanding.
The ministries said that the Ministry of Transport’s refusal to allow JP to use the brand name does not come in line with the current branding laws.
What does JP say?
In its document on registering symbol of JP, Generall Director Luong Hoai Nam requests permission to keep the current symbols. However, as no agreemet has been reached among the enterprise and CAAV, JP still has not got the license to legally use the brand name of Jetstar.
JP says it fears that if the Ministry of Transport does not allow it to use the brand name and symbol as it is currently using, Qantas may withdraw capital from JP. Qantas at first bought an 18 percent stake in JP’s predecessor, the floundering Pacific Airlines. Since then, Qantas has raised its stake to 27 percent of JP’s shares, and JP has raised its share of passenger traffic on Vietnam’s most important domestic air route, Hanoi-HCM City, from 10 to 40 percent.
VietNamNet, NLD
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