Surprising things that have changed in 14 years
How much can the world change in 14 years? It's surprising how different life was when Jetstar took off for its first flight.
- May 2018
Hard to believe, but Jetstar has been around for 14 years now! As we’ve been celebrating our birthday, it got us thinking how much we’ve changed and how much the world has changed as well. When Jetstar launched, iPhones didn’t even exist and social media sites as we know them today were just starting out. Buckle up for a nostalgic joyride.
2004
Back in February, 2004, a college student called Mark Zuckerberg launched a site called TheFacebook (“the” was dropped later) from his dorm room in Harvard, and an Australian airline called Jetstar launched commercially. It was the largest global airline launch with 100,000 fares sold in a single day!
2005
While Prince Charles announced his engagement to Camilla Parker-Bowles and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith had us running to the cinemas, Jetstar celebrated a year in the skies by making its first short-haul international flight to Christchurch and winning its first CAPA Award for Low Cost Airline of the Year.
2006
Sydney kicked off 2006 by sweltering through its hottest New Year’s Day on record, hitting 45 degrees celsius, Julian Assange launched Wikileaks, Twitter was born and Jetstar introduced its first A330 long-haul international flight to Bangkok, offering business class and economy.
2007
By the time Jetstar was celebrating its third birthday, the world was introduced to, among other things, Mad Men, the iPhone and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. It was a big year for Jetstar too, winning its first SKYTRAX Award, and making its first international flight to Japan.
2008
By 2008, Breaking Bad was on TV, Usain Bolt broke the world record for the 100m sprint and Airbnb was founded. Jetstar Pacific launched in Vietnam, becoming the first low-cost airline in that country.
2009
In 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America and the trippy blue of Avatar invaded our cinema screens. Jetstar turned five and launched domestic flights in New Zealand.
2010
By 2010, Instagram launched and Facebook had become so much a part of life that it even inspired the 2010 movie, The Social Network. Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton and Jetstar celebrated 50 million passengers across its network.
2011
The last episode of the Oprah Winfrey show went to air, One Direction released their first album and the video game Minecraft landed. Jetstar won another SKYTRAX Award and flew its first state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner between Melbourne and Bali.
2012
2012 was the year the world went Gangnam Style, with more than 800 million YouTube views. It’s also the same year The Hunger Games and the first Hobbit movie hit the movie screens. Jetstar Japan took off and Jetstar celebrated its 100 millionth passenger.
2013
The big musical hits for 2013 included Lorde’s debut single, Royals, and Pharrell Williams’ infectious song, Happy. Disney film Frozen was released, becoming the highest-grossing animated film and turning kids’ parties into a sea of shimmering blue costumes … and that song.
2014
Jetstar turned 10, the final episode of How I Met Your Mother went to air, Sia released her single, Chandelier, and Ellen took that memorable selfie at the Oscars.
2015
In 2015, we saw the advent of the Apple Watch and the final episode of The Late Show with David Letterman. Mark Zuckerberg announced that 1 billion people had logged into Facebook and Jetstar Airways’ StarKids partnership with World Vision reaches AUD $5 million (raised since 2007).
2016
In 2016, Pokemon Go was all the go, Stranger Things was the new favourite TV show while an old favourite, The X-Files, returned to the screens – and Leo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar.
2017
Come 2017, Donald Trump is now President of the United States, Prince Harry announced his engagement to Suits star Meghan Markle, Google Home is released in Australia and the iPhone X arrives.
… and now it’s 2018. Jetstar is 14 years old and we’ve seen a lot of change in the world and in the skies. We hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane and hope you’ll be flying with us soon to create more memories to look back on!