Originally Posted by Traffic
Also, if PER (4.5M) was getting the International pax numbers that SYD (15.5M) & MEL (10M) were getting, they might not be so worried if QF poached a few off them, but I imagine that QF pax would make up a fair percentage of those 4.5M.
Let's not get carried away. Up until PER-LHR started,
AFAIK, the only international QF flights from Perth were a couple of 737s a day to Singapore and seasonal A330s to NZ.
The West, 5 May 18:
Saffers Fly Into A Rage Over Fares
Perth’s Saffer community is wondering what Perth Airport chief Kevin Brown has against them. Is he a cricket fanatic still smarting from the humiliations of the recent Test series, a colleague of the Bull’s from the other side of the Indian Ocean fumed? No, it’s simply too much to expect a monopoly international airport operator to have much understanding of the concept of competition.
After suffering for years under price gouging by South African Airways on the highest-convenience direct route, especially over the prime Christmas period, expats’ hopes they wouldn’t have to remortgage the house to visit family this year have been dashed. Perth Airport has taken an obstinate stance on facilitating Qantas’ proposed four-times-a-week seasonal service between Perth and Johannesburg to start in Deceember from the new T3 international. Last week Brown said he was happy to work with Qantas if it used the main T1 international terminal, but “the Perth-to-Johannesburg route is not a new route and is already well serviced with a year-round daily flight by South African Airways from T1 international” . This is the same “service” that gouges locals a whopping $2500- $3000 to fly Perth-Johannesburg return anytime within three weeks of Christmas, while often charging South African tourists as little as $1100 for the opposite routing.
There are of course alternatives if you don’t mind wasting a day both ways, but pricing shows the other Asian airlines simply raise their prices to within $200 or $300 of SAA’s extortionate prices over peak periods. An airport spokesman suggested Qantas needed to “keep its focus” on developing Asian connections to bring in foreign revenue, ignoring the $1000- $1500 a seat unnecessarily flowing into SAA and other airline coffers because there is no real competition on the direct route. No wonder Qantas sees a market gap.