A neon plasma jet was generated in air, driven by a 9 kHz sinusoidal power supply. The characteristics of the plasma plume and the optical spectra with plasma propagation for different applied voltages were investigated. By increasing the applied voltage, the plasma plume first increases and then retracts to become short and bulky. The shortened effect of Ne plasma plume （about 10 mm） for the further voltage increasing is more apparent than that of He （about 3 mm） and Ar （about 1 mm）. Emission intensity of the N2 （337 am） increases with the applied voltage, gradually substituting the emission intensity of Ne （702 nm and 585 am） as the noticeable radiation. At the nozzle opening, the Ne （702 am） emission dominates, while the Ne （585 nm） emission is most noticeable around the tip of the plasma plume. The spatial distribution of the three spectral lines indicates that Ne （702 nm） emission decreases dramatically with plasma propagation while Ne （585 am） and N2 （337 nm） emissions reach their maxima at the middle of the plasma plume. The results indicate that the Ne （702 nm） emission is much more sensitive to the average electron temperature and the density of the high-energy electrons, so it changes greatly at the tube nozzle and little at the tip region as the voltage increases. The population of high-energy electrons, the average electron temperature, the collision with air molecules and the Penning effect between Ne metastables and air molecules may explain their different variations with plasma propagating and voltage increasing.
