People look at a Jetstar aircraft from a viewing gallery at Singapore's Changi Airport February 10, 2009. The low cost airlines world conference will be held in Singapore on Wednesday. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash
IN PHOTO: People look at a Jetstar aircraft from a viewing gallery at Singapore's Changi Airport February 10, 2009. The low cost airlines world conference will be held in Singapore on Wednesday. Reuters/Vivek Prakash

Qantas Airways, Australia's flag carrier, along with Japan Airlines, have agreed to inject A$114 million ($97 million) into low-cost carrier Jetstar Japan. The latter is scheduled to commence its international flights in 2015.

The equity infusion, in the form of non-voting shares, effectively increases the stakes Qantas has over the airline. Jetstar Japan is a joint venture among Qantas, Japan Airlines, Mitsubishi Corporation and Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation.

The investment infusion will be made in two tranches. Once completed, Qantas and Japan Airlines' controlling stake in Jetstar Japan will grow to 47.1 percent each. This is not the first time that Qantas had come to the rescue of Jetstar Japan. The first was in November 2013. Qantas injected $60 million after the budget airline's fuel bill rose, triggered by a weak yen.

Jetstar Japan had announced it will begin before the end of December to support the launch of its international operations. The latest financing was particularly aimed to help that expansion, Qantas said.

Currently with a fleet of 19 Airbus A320 aircraft, Jetstar Japan began flying in July 2012, one of three budget airlines that began domestic services in the North Asian nation within six months of each other in the same year, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. It now services 18 routes to 11 domestic destinations in the Asian nation. The airline expects an additional A320 aircraft by the end of the year. In 2013, JetStar Japan reported a loss of $120 million due to delays in setting up a second base in Japan at Kansai International Airport in Osaka.

Despite the losses since start-up, Jayne Hrdlicka, Jetstar group chief executive, believes Jetstar Japan will soar and could become even bigger than Jetstar Australia. "In time we believe that the Jetstar Japan business will be as big or bigger than our business in Australia, given the size and scale of the Japanese market," Hrdlicka said in August. "Commercially it is delivering well ahead of our expectations and the fundamentals in Japan for its age and stage are better than the fundamentals were in Australia at the same point."

The Jetstar group has several offshoots of the low-cost Jetstar brand in Asia. This includes the regional anchor Jetstar Asia and still-to-fly Jetstar Hong Kong.