BA v Qantas

[beerdrinker]

Speaking as a BA retired pilot who was very hacked off by the way the Qantas little Irishman tried to screw BA and their little Irishman by dumping the long standing Kangaroo Route deal, I was not too unhappy to read this linked article on the Cabin Crew Forum:

The Emirates-Qantas alliance has got off to a bad start for the Australian partner, with international passenger numbers falling significantly in the first month.

Qantas International carried 463,000 passengers during April, down 7.2 percent on the same period last year, figures released to the Australian Stock Exchange on Sunday show.

Its load factor, a key indicator of the airline’s profitability, also fell from 82.1 percent to 77.8 percent. The decline of 4.3 percentage points was larger than the 3.5 percent reduction in capacity.

Methinks that Qantas staff will soon get their wish and their leprechaun will soon be returning to his homeland.

[Heathrow Harry]

probably due to the economic chill that has started to hit downunder

plus the high A$ is a major deterrent to visitors

[hawker750]

Hi Terry
Lets hope BA have the balls to go it alone and return to the days when you could go to Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Brisbane, Canberra as well as Sydney on a plane with a blue and gold tail. One a day to Sydney and a couple a week to the others should shake things up. Problem is that you have to admit that Emirates is very good but I think there are still enough true Brits around who want to fly the flag. If it works then Auckland??????

[toffeez]

You can't run a successful service between London and a city the size of Melbourne at a twice-weekly frequency. That's a sure way to get wiped out of the market.

SQ fly twice daily via SIN, A380 all the way! No contest.
.

[homerj]

That's a bit racist isn't it

[Buttscratcher]

Not really, Homer. It simply shows Australians as caring, sharing folk, willing to give a vertically challenged, speach imparred foreign gay bloke a shot at destroying a national icon. Mission' almost complete, but there are still a few nationals left with their Super funds intact, greedy buggers!

[homerj]

While we're being racist , why is it that Aussies are difficult to fly with? A sweeping generalisation I know , but In my experience the ones I've flown with have been arrogant , cocky and full of their own importance. The Mick Dundee types obviously aren't into aviation

[Callsign Kilo]

While we're being racist , why is it that Aussies are difficult to fly with? A sweeping generalisation I know , but In my experience the ones I've flown with have been arrogant , cocky and full of their own importance. The Mick Dundee types obviously aren't into aviation

Ha ha, I've noted this too. Whinging bastards. How they've been done out of a job at Qantas or Virgin Blue, or even Cathay. Like it was their devine right. "Struuuth, now I'm in Europe mate flying lo-cost. Hate the food, hate the weather, hate the people. Use VNAV now mate, put it in LVL CHG, lets configure early, no; leave the autopilot in mate.."

Quite a few of them went to Emirates, thank fvck. Besides that lot, Aussies are lovely people. I do actually like Australians a lot. But they tend to be more relaxed in Australia.

[homerj]

Mabye there were a few Dutch fellas sent there as convicts back in the day as well as all the others. That would explain it. I think this topic deserves a thread of its own!

[Skipness One Echo]

Australians as caring, sharing folk, willing to give a vertically challenged, speach imparred foreign gay bloke a shot at destroying a national icon.
What has his height and sexuality got to do with it?
QANTAS has some serious mid term structural challenges to overcome on the cost front. The QF/EK is not a partnership of equals now is it? Why bother running two QF A380s to LHR when EK already serve the route quite well and a swathe of other Aussie cities as well? BA's loads to Oz have collapsed btw since the end of the JV, I suspect they'll carry the pain for a year or so and see if Mixed Fleet and the B77W reduced losses then quietly can it. There's no hope in Hell of seeing BA back in NZ, the market won't support it against the competition.

[VickersVicount]

Collapsed seems a little dramatic. You have a link to the subset of specific BA figures from CAA ?

[Skipness One Echo]

Collapsed seems a little dramatic.
I was told avg load factor has fallen from 90s to 70s in % terms, bearing in mind the drop from B744 to B77W.

[Leg]

Well if you were 'told', must be true, eh? :ok:

[ZFT]

but I think there are still enough true Brits around who want to fly the flag.

You are kidding. The days of this are long gone.

[FR-]

No I would rather fly the flag, than use my own staff travel at easyJet.

[ZFT]

To Australia?

[GROUNDHOG]

Sorry ZFT you are wrong - here is another one, always fly BA where possible although must admit best flight in my life was QF first class LAX/SYD.

[FR-]

To Australia?

You know the answer to that.

fr-

[Crusher1]

I use business class to Australia and generally fly with MH who have been excellent on every occasion.

I don't have loyality to BA or Qantas for that matter and have not used them on this route, but their prices and my previous poor experience with their product do nothing to entice me into giving them a try.

[Metro man]

Problem is a business class airfare LHR - SYD is the same as LHR - JFK even though it's three time the distance. How many trans atlantics could done in the time it takes to fly to Australia and back. Flights across the pond don't need a crew change en route either.

There is serious competition on the kangaroo route at all levels e.g.

cheapest price, China Southern or Thai
premium service, Singapore Airlines or Cathay
best connections, Emirates (Newcastle - Brisbane one stop)
stop over en route, EK, SQ, CX, TG

Going to Australia BA won't be the best or the cheapest, where as on the North Atlantic the main competition are airlines from the US with equally high prices and poor service. BA can also offer good connections from their extensive European network to the USA via London.

There are simply too many alternatives between the UK and Australia for BA to compete. It's not the 1970s anymore.

[Skipness One Echo]

Well if you were 'told', must be true, eh?
Dear God no, anecdotal from someone I know at BA. They're quite gossipy and not always right but in an already tough trading environment to lose the JV has been a hammer blow, there's no way around that one. Happy for someone to correct me when the actual numbers come out.
In terms of comparison, if BA/AA on the Atlantic is comparable to EK/QF to Oz, that would make BA the Aussie equivalent of US Airways or perhaps Kuwait Airways on the Atlantic. Times have changed, they have a single flight each day to the whole continent versus multiple daily options to many cities with EK/QF on a one stop no plane change basis.

No I would rather fly the flag, than use my own staff travel at easyJet.
Aww that did make me smile, BA loyalty from an easyJet staffer with an FR handle based in Dublin. confused.com

[FR-]

No longer work for FR moved a few years ago, but can't change my user name. I like the BA product, but I work for easyJet, I don't see why you are confused.