End of the line

And when you consider that traffic through Perth has grown at an average of 9 per cent a year for the past 50 years it becomes unfathomable.

But on Sunday May 11 it became fact with the last of the daily Perth to Singapore services taking off.

Qantas’s withdrawal from regular international services from WA – aside from Jetstar, codeshares and some seasonal and school holiday services to Auckland and Singapore respectively – has been as spectacular as it is depressing.

In the past few years from Perth the airline has quit Tokyo, Hong Kong and finally Singapore. At various times it also served Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Bali from the West.

While the lower-cost, greater in-flight product Asian airlines are the major reason, the wrong aircraft, tardy application of seatback videos and a Sydney-centric focus has not helped.

Perhaps if Qantas’s 787s had been delivered as per the original schedule from mid-2008 things may have been different and certainly if Qantas had purchased 777s it would have had greater flexibility.

So there is a touch of numerical irony in that the last Qantas services were QF77 and QF78! In May Qantas CEO Alan Joyce promoted the airline’s commitment to WA and certainly from a domestic standpoint it is committed. But dig deeper and there are missed opportunities.

Speaking at a WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry event Joyce rightly said that the Qantas Group today has a bigger presence in WA than ever before.

“We operate more than 500 flights per week serving WA, with 13 destinations around the state – and that’s not to mention our growing charter business.

“We connect WA to 58 international destinations through Emirates, Jetstar and our oneworld partners.

“And we will continue to operate seasonal international flights on routes like Perth-Singapore and Perth-Auckland. ” He added: “We’ve ramped up our domestic network within WA – working in partnership with the mining sector…and through our subsidiary, Network Aviation, Qantas has become the market leader in FIFO and charters. ” But arguably Qantas’s previous management was asleep in the cockpit when it comes to WA.

In 2008 a frustrated Qantas WA state manager asked the author for a collection of photos I had taken showing the early morning chaos on the

Perhaps if Qantas’s 787s had been delivered as per the original schedule things may have been different.

ramp at its domestic terminal to convince head office that something needed to be done.

Results flowed and the terminal was almost doubled in capacity.

And it is true that Network with 10 Fokker 100s has become the biggest FIFO operator out of Perth with a 30 per cent marketshare, but Qantas should have made this move 20 years ago.

The stark reality is that Qantas’s performance in WA is a snapshot of the airline’s and the country’s wider problems.

Qantas is simply not competitive right now with most of its rivals either internationally or domestically.

Joyce is striving to undo the numerous mistakes of the past and right the ship but will he have enough time? Unions have flagged they will fight every inch of the way against change which just plays into the hands of competitors, and some would argue that the horse has bolted.

And certainly when Virgin Australia’s partner Etihad starts connecting Perth to the world in July the born-again Australian airline’s frequent flyers will have a superb Middle East connection, which will take Europe traffic away from the Qantas-Emirates combo.

And with Etihad upping the stakes in which airline can offer the most luxurious accommodation Qantas’s position looks even more parlous.

Rightly or wrongly Etihad’s new 787s and A380s will be a showcase for extravagance and the splash of luxury will be refitted to its 777s. It remains to be seen how Qantas’s partner Emirates responds.

Qantas’s long-overdue upgrades of its A330s with flatbeds in business are in the works and refreshed aircraft will start appearing late this year.

But is it too little too late as Joyce tries to undo decades of neglect of WA and Australia from a product perspective?