Qantas soars on improved traffic
Sat "Courier Mail"
Qantas soars on improved traffic
QANTAS shares jumped more than 2 per cent yesterday after the national carrier released higher than expected November traffic figures. The airline revealed it transported 1.476 million passengers around Australia for the month, a 4 per cent increase on the year before.
The figures were inflated by carrying over Rugby World Cup business but were still embraced by investors. Internationally, passenger numbers fell from 729, 000 in November last year to 718,000.
A standout for the airline was Australian Airlines, a subsidiary which flies between Australia and Asia. Its business for the month went from 34,000 to 59, 000, an increase of 79 per cent. A less brighter note though was regional carrier Qantas Link, which experienced a dramatic 14 per cent slump in passengers from 283,000 to 243,000.
Qantas said group-wide for November passenger numbers grew a healthy 1.3 per cent.
The numbers pleased investors, who piled into the stock. Qantas shares rose 7 , or 2 per cent, to close the session at $3.43.
The goodwill spread through to other tourism-related stocks which also experienced a robust day.
Qantas rival and would-be merger partner Air New Zealand experienced a rare positive day as it added 1.5 to close at 43.5 and domestic competitor Virgin Blue firmed 5 to $2.60. Travel centre giant Flight Centre also surged 50 to $ 22.50.
Macquarie Equities said the Qantas numbers were strong and a further sign that the travel industry had recovered from its low points reached last year.
"The Rugby World Cup has clearly been a positive for Qantas," Macquarie said in a research note to clients.
"Domestic volume was up 0.5 per cent, the first time growth has occurred during the year. Underlying growth is still flat as Qantas focuses on reducing the cost base before challenging Virgin Blue's position." Macquarie said the improvement in cumulated international yield from -2.4 per cent in October to -0.6 per cent, a 1.8 per cent improvement, would translate into an additional $30 million revenue.
Qantas also told the market it would increase domestic capacity on Melbourne- Cairns, Brisbane-Perth, Brisbane-Darwin, and Darwin-Melbourne.
Elsewhere, separate figures compiled by independent body Centre for Asian Pacific Aviation for December last year showed traffic throughout the region had increased. Cathay Pacific was a highlight for the month with revenue passenger kilometres numbers rising an average 2.7 per cent compared with Singapore Airlines, which was flat.
"Airlines in the region are steadily increasing load factors to restore profitability levels," the Centre said. "This is a trend which will be of great interest -- and perhaps some concern -- to the tourism industry. "
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