Jetstar staff `have done nothing wrong`

Qantas says it is confident that two senior employees currently prevented from
leaving Vietnam have done nothing wrong.
Vietnamese authorities prevented Jetstar Pacific chief operating officer Daniela
Marsilli and chief financial officer Tristan Freeman from returning to Australia on
December 19 over allegations that the company made huge losses on fuel markets.
Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas, which part owns Jetstar, admitted that losses
from so-called fuel hedging ran into hundreds of millions of dollars but said the
practice of fuel hedging was routine within the airline industry.
He added that he was confident the employees had done nothing wrong.
"The losses that were incurred were a part of global business risk," Mr Joyce told
reporters in Sydney on Saturday.
He added that the two employees had not acted outside the company board structure.
"We'll do whatever is necessary to ensure a speedy resolution."
Ms Marsilli and Mr Freeman have been prevented from leaving Vietnam while
authorities there undertake a financial investigation.
The Vietnamese government is a shareholder in the budget airline Jetstar Pacific.
According to international media reports, the former boss of Jetstar Pacific, Luong
Hoai Nam, was arrested on Thursday as part of the investigation into the 2008-09
losses.
Vietnam's Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted a report by state investigators that the three
Jetstar employees flouted a board of directors' resolution on buying aviation fuel
futures, leading to losses of more than $US31 million ($A33.81 million).
In 2007, Australia's Qantas bought 18 per cent of Pacific Airlines and turned it
into a low-cost airline operating as Jetstar Pacific. Qantas's stake has since
increased to 27 per cent.