Feeding frenzy for cut-price air seats
Wed "Daily Telegraph
Feeding frenzy for cut-price air seats
By ANTHONY MARX
December 29, 2004
HUNDREDS of thousands of discounted air tickets have been snapped up for domestic travel in the new year.
Rival budget carriers Virgin Blue and Jetstar collectively released about 800,000 seats on December 16, with one-way prices starting as low as $49.
However, aviation analysts warn that using cut-rate seats to drum up business in the traditionally slow post-Christmas period between January 18 and May 31 will put added pressure on already tight profit margins.
The cheapest seats cost $19, but $30 in taxes and fees, including a petrol surcharge, added to the ticket cost.
Jetstar's parent company, Qantas, has also entered the discounting fray.
Virgin spokesperson Amanda Bolger said the Brisbane-based airline had enjoyed "a fantastic response" to the "St Nick's nick off" sale, which ends at midnight tonight.
"It's actually gone quite berserk. We had about 500,000 out there in the market and there's only a little over 150,000 left," Ms Bolger said.
Perth and north Queensland were the most popular Virgin Blue destinations out of Brisbane, although the sale applied to a limited number of seats a plane and was not available on all routes.
Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway declined to reveal how many of the 300,000 discount tickets had already been sold, saying only that it had reached the tens of thousands.
"We've had a really positive response," he said.
Mr Westaway said the most sought-after flights, apart from capital city links, were to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and Hamilton Island.
He acknowledged reports that some parts of Queensland, including Cairns and the Sunshine Coast, had suffered a slow-down in holiday period accommodation bookings.
"Visitation numbers are a bit off from last year," he said.
"What we're finding is record passenger departure volumes, but people's travelling habits are changing. They are concentrating more on shorter stays, which has really stimulated a friends' and relatives' travel market.
"Whether they are staying at hotels or not is an interesting debating point. They are also looking at international [travel] much more."
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