It is “game on”, indeed. Following successfully achieving the 20% corporate market share earlier than originally envisaged which saw the increasingly stiff competition in the lucrative business travel market pushing down domestic business fares to an unprecedented low level since the collapse of Ansett Australia in September 2001, Brisbane-based Virgin Australia did not stand still. Neither did its aspirations stop soaring when Australia’s second-largest carrier recorded a 113% increase in …Read More
Tag Archives: Malaysia Airlines
Qantas-Emirates partnership: How other players are affected
The Qantas/Emirates partnership should be about the survival of Qantas in a competitive market that has seen its international operations dipping into red ink. With the alliance, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce is optimistic that the Australian flag carrier will revert to profitability a year after its formalisation which is pending approval by the authorities and expected to take off in April 2013. Joyce has good reasons to be sanguine …Read More
Qantas/Emirates partnership to reshape competitive landscape
The full-year FY2011/12 financial results of Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways paint of a bleak picture, as the flying kangaroo posted its first after-tax loss of A$244 million (US$254.8 million) since its privatisation in 1995, amid record high jet fuel prices and intense competition from Gulf carriers on the lucrative Australia-Europe, or “kangaroo route”. In response, Qantas cancelled its firm order for 35 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners in order to rein …Read More
Qantas should refocus on Asia from Emirates codeshare distraction
Since the emergence of media reports on Dubai-based Emirates Airline’s talks with the struggling international unit of Qantas Airways on a potential codeshare accord, the share price of the flying kangaroo has soared from a bottom level at 99 Australian cents on 25th July, a day before the codeshare talk between the carriers was first reported, to as high as A$1.14 on July 31st, it has been hailed by industry …Read More
Is consolidation the answer?
In light of the grim future painted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) at its annual summit held in Beijing recently, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, it seems, thinks the airline industry faces an overcrowding problem. He said at the summit: “The number of airlines in the industry is too many. It’s too fragmented.” And the solution that he suggested: Consolidation. Joyce is re-championing an old strategy that more …Read More
Airbus is right on A330 improvement strategy
Having decided against re-engining the twin-aisle medium to long-haul A330 aircraft which is likely to undermine the business case of its A350-800 sibling (“Airbus mulls re-engined A330 along with sharklets“, 5th Mar, 12), Airbus is adopting the least risky option of offering new, higher gross weight variants of the A330 aircraft family that not only will see the A330 being more capable than it has ever been, but also provide …Read More
Malaysia Airlines flip-flops, its future uncertain
The powers that be at Malaysia Airlines (MAS) seem to be not quite sure about what they want. The apparent lack of conviction in their commitment to right a tilting ship has left the airline directionless and without a palpable vision. In August last year, the ailing airline made a share swap with white knight AirAsia in a move aimed at checking Malaysia Airlines’ plunge further into the red. This …Read More
Malaysia Airlines bars children from A380 upper deck
Malaysia Airlines makes a bold move to differentiate itself from its competitors when it adds the Airbus A380 to its fleet, flying the aircraft from Kuala Lumpur first to London from July 1 and next to Sydney from September 25. It will not allow children under the age of 12 in economy to be seated on the upper deck. The objective, according to the Malaysian flag carrier, is to ensure …Read More
Jetstar Hong Kong stirs up a storm
Jetstar Hong Kong, a new budget joint venture (JV) of equal partnership between Qantas and China Eastern Airlines, is stirring up a storm – and not quite in a tea-cup considering the market potential of 450 million passengers by 2015. The carrier is expected to commence operations in mid-2013. The announcement drew mixed reaction from aviation analysts. Some of them think Qantas made a strategic move in penetrating the lucrative …Read More
Malaysia Airlines in crisis
In announcing the Malaysian flag carrier’s performance for FY2011, Malaysia Airlines chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusuf said: “The company is in (a) crisis.” The airline group posted a loss of RM2.52 billion (US$841 million). Malaysia Airlines carried 1.3 million more passengers on a total of 17 million passengers last year, contributing to a marginal increase in Group revenue of 2% to RM13.9 billion. Expenditure however rose 21% from …Read More