Qantas To Boost Domestic Flights Amid Virgin Challenge

Manila Bulletin
May 8, 2012
By Joe Schneider

Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN), Australia’s biggest carrier, plans to boost domestic flights to protect its 65 percent share of the market and fend off Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. (VAH)

  The carrier will add seats between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, its busiest routes, in the year starting July 1, according to a statement today. The company is also deferring delivery of two Airbus SAS A380s to help cut capital spending by A$400 million ($410 million) to A$1.9 billion in the year ending June 2013, it said in a separate release.

  Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce plans to defend the Sydney-based carrier’s “profit-maximizing” 65 percent market share as Virgin adds seats and targets lucrative corporate customers with airport lounges and business-class seats. On intercontinental routes, he has cut capacity to revive operations losing A$200 million a year amid competition from Middle East carriers led by Emirates Airline.

  “The domestic market is the pulse and heart of Qantas,” said Peter Harbison, executive chairman of CAPA Centre for Aviation in Sydney, an industry consultant. “They’re weak on the long-haul.”

  Delivery of the two new A380s will be delayed until the year ending June 2017 from early 2013. The airline, which already has 12 A380s in service, will get its other six on-order superjumbos by the end of June 2019, it said.

  Qantas is also cutting annual operating costs for international services by more than A$300 million, it said in a separate statement. The savings include as much as A$120 million by cutting flights on unprofitable routes and as much as A$100 million from streamlining heavy maintenance and engineering.