End Of The Line

Bad geography or bad decisions to blame for Qantas’s woes?

For years, airlines such as Qantas, Air New Zealand, South African Airways and others have been regarded as end-of-line carriers, operating far from major transit hubs and facing unique challenges in terms of global market penetration and distribution. But times are changing. While they still face numerous issues, being a major player in the global aviation game may not be such a problem after all… at least for some.

Almost exactly two years ago, in February 2011, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told a Melbourne Press Club lunch there was “a real question mark over the viability of Qantas International” if it kept going the way it was. “We face severe limits to growth,” he claimed, saying Qantas was an “end-of-the-line” carrier serving a market of only 22 million people, “in a marketplace flooded with so much capacity that our competitors aren’t even using their quota”. He set up a taskforce to explore options that would invigorate the business, generate new and profitable markets, and protect jobs and assets.