Slick Qantas outstrips Virgin
Wed "The Australian"
Slick Qantas outstrips Virgin
By Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
June 30, 2004
QANTAS shares rose 10c yesterday on the back of falling oil prices and statistics showing its domestic flights were fuller in May than those of rival Virgin Blue.
Qantas shares closed at $3.48 as oil prices fell as low as $US36 a barrel in the wake of the surprise handover of sovereignty in Iraq.
Virgin Blue shares also benefited, rising 4c to close at $1.96.
Qantas's May domestic traffic was up 10 per cent on last year while capacity increased 9.2 per cent to produce a load factor of 74.1 per cent.
This was about four points higher than the 70.2 per cent May load factor - the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers - recorded by Virgin Blue as the smaller airline significantly ramped up capacity.
The Qantas figures did not break out the first six days of low-cost start-up Jetstar but the airline said the carrier's load factor was in line with expectations of about 70 per cent.
International figures showed a big post-SARS jump, with traffic up 24.9 per cent but a 25.8 per cent rise in capacity pushed down load factors by 0.5 points to 67.8 per cent.
Qantaslink figures headed south as traffic fell 19.1 per cent and load factor dropped 3.4 points to 70.7 per cent.
The airline said the results reflected a 15 per cent reduction in capacity as the regional operation retired its BAe 146 aircraft.
Overall group figures for May showed a 15 per cent increase in passenger numbers on last year and a 19.6 per cent increase in traffic.
With the financial year drawing to a close, May year-to-date figures saw domestic load factors up 1.8 points to 79.5 per cent while total domestic yield fell 3.6 per cent compared with last year.
International yield was up 0.1 per cent on last year while international load factors increased 0.3 percentage points to 77.8 per cent.
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