Virgin drops ‘no-frills’ to offer freebies to premium economy flyers
Australia : VIRGIN Blue has intensified its battle to take business passengers from Qantas by offering free food, drinks and entertainment in its premium economy seats.The move marks another step away from Virgin’s no-frills origins and capitalises on moves by corporate travellers to cuts costs in the current economic climate, The Australian reports.Several airlines have said recently that they have noticed some customers starting to “trade down” from business class to lower-priced seats as the economic downturn continues to bite.Virgin also benefited from recent troubles at Qantas that resulted in its on-time performance nose-diving and its reputation being battered by a series of safety scares.
Qantas slashes fuel surcharges for domestic flights
QANTAS is to cut its fuel surcharge on all domestic flights to reflect falls in jet fuel prices, the airline has announced.The surcharge will fall by up to $5 to $21 on all Qantas and QantasLink flights and will apply to tickets issued on or after November 28, 2008.The discounting follows reductions last month to the airline’s international surcharges and domestic fares.The Executive General Manager of Qantas, Mr John Borghetti, said the airline had recently reduced its international surcharges and domestic fares in response to falls in oil and jet fuel prices.
Qantas cuts flights as profit forecast slides
QANTAS is to cut its fleet and amend routes as passenger numbers fall during the global financial crisis.Outgoing chief executive Geoff Dixon said Qantas will reduce capacity equivalent to grounding 10 aircraft.Mr Dixon said this will be done by not taking up the planned lease of two A330-200 aircraft and by changing routes to free up other aircraft. “By taking this action now we will have the flexibility to switch growth back on as soon as market conditions improve,” said Mr Dixon.”We are in unpredictable times and the international business market, in particular, has slowed.”Mr Dixon said the current economic downturn had principally affected Qantas’ mainline international operations and as a result, plans to halt all planned domestic market growth for Qantas and Jetstar.New Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, said the airline will seek further profitable flying opportunities, such as the recently launched non-stop Sydney-Buenos Aires services.
Jetstar launches discount fare campaign
JETSTAR is hoping to send travellers into an airfare frenzy this Christmas, by offering discounted flights until the end of the year.Each Friday until the end of December, Jetstar will hold a four hour Friday Fare Frenzy online offer, with discounted fares on selected domestic and international routes.Deals on JetSaver Light fares between Melbourne and Adelaide, Newcastle and Launceston will be on offer from $15 – inclusive of surcharges, fees and charges.International fares to Bangkok will go for $199, also inclusive of fees.Friday Fare Frenzy will be available from 4pm until 8pm unless sold out, and fares are subject to availability.Jetstar is the latest airline to offer discounted fares to allow cash-strapped travellers to escape the financial crisis.Last week Tiger Airways had about 50,000 “free” flights snapped up within hours of going on sale.
Qantas launches two-for-one ticket sale
QANTAS has launched a two-for-one flight tickets sale and even has people handing out pamphlets as it moves to stimulate demand for international travel.The airline said there had been a strong response to the offer, which allows a second passenger to fly for the cost of taxes and charges.September traffic figures revealed a 9.3 per cent fall in Qantas mainline international passenger numbers. The Association for Asia-Pacific Airlines also warned over the weekend that the global economic crisis had seriously affected passenger demand and the industry was facing “severe turbulence”.Incoming Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said that the September figures indicated a weakness in traffic.”Cathay’s seeing a weakness, Singapore’s seeing a weakness,” Mr Joyce said.”International demand is trading down and we are seeing a bit of trade down at the moment.”
Qantas lucky $11bn takeover bid crashed, Geoff Dixon says
RETIRING Qantas boss Geoff Dixon has admitted he is relieved that a private-equity takeover of the airline failed last year, despite strongly backing it at the time.The issue was “clouded by emotion” because Qantas board members and management stood to make huge personal gains from the $11 billion deal, Mr Dixon told The Sunday Telegraph.He had vowed to devote his $70 million cut to creating a charitable foundation.Qantas would be in severe financial difficulty if the takeover by Airline Partners Australia had succeeded, because a key member of the consortium, Allco Finance Group, collapsed on November 4 with debts of more than $1.1 billion.”It didn’t happen, and I’m very pleased now it didn’t happen,” Mr Dixon said.”It’s a hard one to revisit. Still a bit raw, I think.”The real issue I’d never repeat was having the management - myself and the management - involved in it.”The real Achilles heel was that it got very, very emotional - principally because I and the senior management team were going to earn tens of millions of dollars as part of it.”That’s the way private equity works.”
AirAsia X touches down in Melbourne
MELBOURNE: AirAsia X’s inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur to Victoria, Australia, touched down at Melbourne Airport today – launching what the carrier describes as “a new era of international air travel” between the two destinations.The inaugural flight used a new wide-bodied Airbus A330-300, which provides passengers with a level of service AirAsia X says passengers do not normally expect from low-cost airlines.AirAsia X will service the route between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur initially with four return flights per week. The airline has announced plans to upgrade this schedule to daily return flights during the peak season from 18 December to 16 January. Daily return flights will then commence from March 2009.
Qantas marks 60 years of SA services
Qantas will celebrate the 60th anniversary of flights between Australia and South Africa – known as the Wallaby Route – on November 14.Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon, said the successful survey flight between Australia and South Africa in 1948 was another remarkable achievement for Qantas Empire Airways, following the introduction of the Kangaroo Route between Australia and the United Kingdom in 1947. “Qantas Empire Airways’ 1948 survey flight from Sydney to Johannesburg with a Lancastrian aircraft was a milestone in the airline’s development as a long haul carrier,” Dixon said. “It was particularly impressive to the South Africans at the time, whose own airlines had flown none of the world’s oceans and whose major sea crossing was the Mediterranean.”
Rex axed as costs take off
REGIONAL Express subsidiary Air Link will no longer provide regular passenger services in New South Wales as worsening conditions slash the profitability of thinner rural routes.The nation’s biggest independent regional carrier announced its wholly owned subsidiary will pull out of several western NSW routes next month.It said the affected routes linked the regional centre of Dubbo to Bourke, Cobar, Coonamble, Lightning Ridge and Walgett, as well as a Mudgee-Sydney service, reports The Australian.The move will leave the smaller centres without regular passenger services, but the group will replace Air Link’s 19-seat Beech 1900 Bathurst-Sydney and Dubbo-Sydney services with 34-seat Rex SAAB 340 services, effectively upgrading capacity to both towns.
Virgin cuts fuel surcharge
VIRGIN Blue has become the latest airline to reduce flight fees by cutting the fuel surcharge on its airfares by 20 per cent.The airline has slashed surcharge fees on Virgin Blue domestic, Pacific Blue trans-Tasman and Pacific Island flights.The fuel surcharge for a one-way domestic flight will fall to $19 and to $35 for Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue one way international flights. “We have always promised that if the cost of fuel reversed, we would gladly reverse the surcharge accordingly,” said chief executive Brett Godfrey.”That is what we are doing, because that is fair.”Virgin Blue last increased its fuel surcharge in February 2008 in response to successive record hikes in the cost of jet fuel.The airline said it had resisted further fuel surcharge increases when oil reached record peaks of $US145 a barrel in July.Virgin Blue has become the second airline in a week to reduce fees, after Singapore Airlines cut the levy by up to $22 for business and economy-class passengers travelling to or from Australia.
