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Airline Analysis
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Indeed 1975/76 was not a kind one to our commercial airlines.
From the small feederliners to the giant that is Qantas they all felt the savage impact of reduced passenger traffic alongside rapidly escalating fuel and service costs. Govern ment imposed still higher taxes, aviation fuel continued to soar in price, rents on premises increased and wages became the greater portion of overall expenditure. All this in a year of zero growth.
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While the airlines expect to attract a slight growth rate for the coming year it will be a long time before the boom days of the early seventies return to provide Australia with airline traffic growth figures in excess of 20% per annum.
The following five-year charts better describe the overriding problems experienced by our major carriers than a mere editorial could ever hope to achieve. Indeed, if able to have been forseen during the boom days they would have constituted an economist’s nightmare.
| FIVE YEAR SUMMARY | |||||
| Amounts in $000s | 75/76 | 74/75 | 73/74 | 72/73 | 71/72 |
| Total Revenue | $471,585 | $398,962 | $398,962 | $398,962 | $217,239 |
| Expenditure | $485,772 | $485,772 | $299,410 | $299,410 | $299,410 |
| Profit/Loss | ($14,187) | ($4,351) | $11,364 | $11,364 | $6,460 |
| Income Tax Paid | $226 | $177 | $6,478 | $264 | $157 |
| Hours Flown | 89,387 | 90,240 | 91,919 | 84,744 | 91,967 |
| Kilometres Flown (000s) | 68,200 | 68,445 | 69,609 | 63,247 | 67,816 |
| Passengers Carried | 1,492,514 | 1,415,850 | 1,219,544 | 920,964 | 782,734 |
| Revenue Seat Facto | 61.20% | 62.80% | 61.90% | 57.00% | 51.30% |
| Revenue Load Factor | 56.20% | 56.50% | 56.50% | 51.20% | 46.1 |
| Av number of Employees | 13,230 | 13,227 | 12,338 | 11,781 | 12,433 |
| Total Employee Costs (000s) | $180,489 | $180,489 | $180,489 | $95,810 | $89,311 |
| Revenue per Employee | $35,645 | $30,163 | $25,188 | $21,049 | $17,473 |
| INVENTORY | |
| Boeing 747-200 | 12 (3 more being delivered during 1977) |
| Boeing 707 | 11 |
| FIVE YEAR SUMMARY | |||||
| Amounts in $000s | 75/76 | 75/76 | 75/76 | 75/76 | 71/72 |
| Total Revenue | $212,867 | $190,733 | $154,231 | $133,159 | $120,072 |
| Income Tax | $2,517 | $2,305 | $2,904 | $4,793 | $5,054 |
| Total Expenses before tax | $207,989 | $186,210 | $150,522 | $126,400 | $113,443 |
| Op Profit after Tax | $2,361 | $2,218 | $805 | $1,966 | $1,575 |
| % Return on Capital | 15.70% | 14.80% | 5.40% | 13.10% | 10.50% |
| Revenue Passenger Carried | $4,072 | $4,164 | $3,992 | $3,613 | |
| Passenger Km Flown | 2,609,388 | ||||
| Revenue Cargo Carried (kg) | 41,968 | 41,968 | 44,952 | 41,131 | 38,703 |
| Revenue Mail Carried (kg) | 4,150 | 4,530 | 4,577 | 4,874 | 5,172 |
| Weight Load Factor | 62.00% | 62.20% | 62.20% | 62.20% | 64.50% |
| Passenger Load Factor | 64.30% | 65.70% | |||
| Staff Strength (Aust. only) | 7,916 | 7,804 | 7,842 | 7,842 | 7,842 |
| Total Payroll ($000s) | $88,294 | $77,252 | $58,158 | $49,174 | $42,134 |
| Av Annual Salary/Wage | $11,154 | $9,899 | $7,416 | $6,544 | $5,844 |
| Revenue per Employee | $26,891 | $24,440 | $19,667 | $17,721 | $16,653 |
| Aviation Fuel Tax | $13,896 | $13,902 | $12,280 | $7,954 | $7,258 |
| Payroll Tax | $4,329 | $3,770 | $2,474 | $1,607 | $1,311 |
| Air Route Charges | $9,579 | $8,631 | $6,649 | $5,140 | $4,509 |
| Dividend Paid | $1,275 | $100 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Total Paid to Government | $33,160 | $30,813 | $28,140 | $21,525 | $19,560 |
| INVENTORY | |
| Boeing 727-200 | 8 |
| Boeing 727-100 | 5 |
| DC9-31 | 12 |
| Fokker | 14 |
| DHC6 Twin Otter | 5 |
| Douglas DC3 | 1 |
Boeing and Pan American backed another long-term winner with the introduction of the 747SP “Junior Jumbo”” on the Pacific route. Initially, PanAm ran a twice weekly SP service direct from Sydney to San Francisco, the world’s longest non-stop air route. Demand for seats has been so great that from October 1977 the airline hopes to offer no less than five SP flights weekly to the USA; two operating direct to Los Angeles, the other three will fly via Auckland. In effect this means that Pan Am can now offer a 23/24 hour one-stop service to London which should he quite a strong money earner for them over the next few years. If the SP was to be operated via the Far East with one stop being made in India, it would cul Sydney/London flights down to the 20/21 hour mark which would inevitably cul a big hole in the Con corde market considering the cost of the latter’s ticket. Unfortunately, not one carrier on thatnetwork will be purchasing the SP, so I guess it’s back lo the 26 hour drag!
| FIVE YEAR SUMMARY | |||||
| Amountsin $000s | 75/76 | 74/75 | 73/74 | 72/73 | 71/72 |
| Total Revenue | $16,482 | $14,131 | $11,298 | $8,803 | $7,355 |
| Total Expenditure | $15,256 | $13,659 | $10,502 | $8,100 | $6,868 |
| Profit after Tax | $311 10% | $166 10% | $369 10% | $188 10% | $127 9% |
| Dividend Rate | 9,725 | 9,725 | 9,725 | 9,190 | 7,879 |
| Route Distance Km | 20,291 | 21,358 | 20,471 | 18,109 | 16,004 |
| Hours Flown | 442,923 | 477,594 | 437,142 | 385,143 | 327,270 |
| Passengers Carried | 58.70% | 59.40% | 59.30% | 61.00% | 57 |
| Staff Strength | 450 | 483 | 456 | 406 | 380 |
| Av Annual Salary | $11,299 | $9,734 | $7,793 | $6,848 | $5,827 |
| INVENTORY | |
| Fokker F27-100 | 5 |
| Fokker F27-500 | 4 |
| Douglas DC3 | 2 |
| FIVE YEAR SUMMARY | |||||
| 1976 | 1975 | 1974 | 1973 | 1972 | |
| No. of Paying Passengers | 4,801,814 | 4,894,201 | 4,736,611 | 4,114,020 | 3,794,778 |
| Revenue Load Factor (tot) | 59.40% | 60.10% | 63.00% | 61.60% | 62.2 |
| Number of Ports Serviced | 103 | 110 | 116 | 140 | 157 |
| Total Km Flown (000s) | 73,369 | 77,177 | 76,816 | 72,674 | 74,157 |
| Total Km Flown (000s) | 63,641 | 70,945 | 77,966 | 79,127 | 75,122 |
| Aircraft Seat Capacity | 3,531 | 3,758 | 3,596 | 3,424 | 3,277 |
| Freight and Mail (tonnes) | 70,084 | 72,337 | 80,877 | 73,344 | 69,480 |
| Freight and Mail (tonnes) | $228,078 | 198,123 | 162,525 | 132,525 | 132,538 |
| Freight and Mail (tonnes) | $34,066 | $32,207 | $28,545 | $24,324 | $25,505 |
| INVENTORY – | |
| Boeing 727-200 | 7 |
| Boeing 727-100 DC9-30 | 3 |
| Fokker F27 Electra Freighter | 12 |
| Sikorsky S61N | 12 |
| Bell 206A Jetranger | 4 |
| 2 | |
| Airlines of NSW | |
| Fokker F27 | 8 |
| Airlines of South Australia | |
| Fokker F27 | 3 |
| MacRobertson Miller Airlines (WA) | |
| Fokker F28 Fellowship | 5 |
| Twin Otter | 1 |
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