Qantas pax numbers bounce back in November, but still down

Qantas saw its passengers numbers bounce back in November.

Qantas passenger numbers recovered in November, backing up claims by management that the airline had bounced back from a dire October that saw its fleet grounded amid labour strife.

Domestic passenger numbers for the Flying Kangaroo were still down 1.3 per cent from November 2010, but that was a marked improvement from October when domestic passengers fell 11.3 per cent from a year earlier.

International numbers were up 1.5 per cent as more Australians travelled overseas on the back of the strong dollar.

Passenger numbers for the Qantas Group as a whole were up 3.2 per cent with Jetstar Domestic up 5.5 per cent and Jetstar International up 9.3 per cent.

Virgin Australia, meanwhile, reported a 3.5 per cent increase in domestic passengers for November as it continued to capitalise on Qantas turmoil. Virgin’s international numbers also grew by 5.1 per cent, the airline said.

With the bounce-back, Qantas resumed its place as Australia’s largest domestic carrier, taking on 1.47 million passengers compared to Virgin’s 1.42 million. Jetstar Domestic and regional carrier QantasLink reported 845,000 and 449,000 passengers respectively.