Singapore state investment fund Temasek is selling out of Jetstar Asia and Valuair, budget airline partners it has owned in association with Qantas. The Australian carrier will now hold 49% of the airlines, while Singaporean citizen Dennis Choo owns the rest, ensuring that the carriers retain Singaporean nationality under international air traffic agreements.

Korean Air budget subsidiary Jin Air will fly to Bangkok and Macao from October, going international 15 months after it began domestic operations. The airline proposes to expand to 16 international routes by 2011, serving Southeast Asia, China and Japan. Jin Air has three aircraft and has announced plans to lease two more, Boeing 737-800s, this year. It is expanding domestically, too. From Friday it will begin flying four times a day between Jeju and Busan, adding to its 12 daily roundtrip flights linking Jeju and Gimpo.

Creditors are applying for Chinese private carrier East Star Airlines to be declared bankrupt as Air China’s parent negotiates to buy the grounded business. East Star, which ceased flying on March 15, has losses totaling 500 million yuan (US$73 million). Chinese state carriers are getting financial support from the government, but the private ones are not.