The Enemy Within

And For All The Criticism Qantas Cops, It Generally Operates A Very Good Service. I Have Flown Quite Frequently With Qantas Domestically This Year, And Generally The Service Has Been Excellent (Both Cabin Crew And Ground Staff), Which Combined With The Airline’s Frequency Of Schedule And High Standard (Although Typically Busy) Lounges Makes For A Very Good Product.

But The Challenger, In Virgin Australia, Is Clearly Coming.

In Early July There Was A Flurry Of Reports That Virgin Australia Carried More Passengers Domestically For The 12 Months To The End Of May, Such That Qantas Rushed Out A Clarifying Press Release.

“qantas, Including Its Regional Domestic Airline Qantaslink, Carried 20. 25 Million Passengers Over That Period [the Year To May].

“in Addition To The 20. 25 Million Domestic Qantas Flyers, The Qantas Group’s Low Fares Airline Jetstar Carried 9. 84 Million Passengers.

“virgin Australia (Including Its Regional Domestic Flying) Carried 15. 53 Million Passengers.

“more Australians Continue To Fly With Qantas Than With Any Other Domestic Airline. ” But For The Month Of May Figures Give A Much Clearer Picture Of What Is Going On In The Domestic Market. And Virgin’s Numbers Are Very Impressive, Carrying 1,422,194 Passengers, Up A Startling 10. 3 Per Cent On May 2011. Rpks, Too, Were Up 11. 2 Per Cent To 1,459m.

In Comparison, Qantas Domestic Carried 1,396,000 Passengers, A Drop Of 1. 6 Per Cent. Rpks Were 2,012m, Down 0. 5 Per Cent.

So Virgin Australia Is Now Carrying More Passengers Than The Core Qantas Domestic Operation, Although Qantas’s Rpks Are Higher By Something Like 25 Per Cent.

Now That Comparison Doesn’t Tell The Full Story. Jetstar Carried 761,000 Passengers, Up 9. 0 Per Cent, And Qantaslink Carried A Further 416,000 Passengers, Up 6. 0 Per Cent.

But Clearly Virgin Australia Is On The Up, And As Our Interview With The Airline’s Chief Operating Officer Sean Donohue From Page 30 Shows, The Many Elements Of Ceo John Borghetti’s Game Change Are Coming Together In A Rush.

A New Livery And Brand, Business Class Across The Fleet, New Lounges, New Widebody And Regional Aircraft, Complimentary Beer And Wine, Priority Boarding, A Relaunched Frequent Flyer Program. . . The Scope Of Change At The Old Virgin Blue Is Without Precedent In Australia.

And Clearly That Is Having An Impact.

By Comparison, Qantas Seems To Have Been Left Flat Footed, A Neat ‘spirit Of Australians’ Marketing Campaign And Its Q Bag Tag Terminal Improvements Notwithstanding.

Instead, Its Response Of Late Is The Tried And True Capacity And Price War, That Is Seeing More A330s And The 747-400 Return To Domestic Transcontinental Flying, For Example, And Air Fares, Particularly The All-important Business Class Fares, Plunge.

“fares Tumble Amid Business Class Warfare,” A Recent Article In The Australian Was Headlined, Citing Bitre Data That “indicates Business Class Fares Are 40 Per Cent Cheaper Than They Were In The Same Month Last Year And 20 Per Cent Cheaper Than Last Month. ” The [domestic Airline Market] Game Is Certainly Changing.

Thanks Mimi

This Issue We Farewell Mimi Mekdarasouk. Mimi Has Been With The Phantom Media Team For 18 Months, The Last Six Of Which As Our Advertising Manager. Mimi Is Moving On To Return To Study And We Wish Her All The Best. Thanks For All Your Hard Work And Organisational Skills, Mimi!