Jetstar seems to be attracting the customers . . . paraphrasing from below:
- JETSTAR has laid claim to the title of the third-biggest international airline servicing Australia
- Passenger numbers increased nearly 100% year on year
- Continuing to "close the gap" with Qantas by carrying 310,000 international passengers in February compared with Qantas international's 462,000
- Leading the growth in the group's domestic operations with a 13.7 per cent rise in passenger numbers
Jetstar's overseas growth doubles: travel recovery
The Weekend Australian – 27/28 March 2010
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
JETSTAR has laid claim to the title of the third-biggest international airline servicing Australia after impressive growth in February international passenger numbers that were 91.3 per cent higher than a year ago.
The doubling in size of Jetstar's international arm underscores the growing presence of low-cost carriers, which now account for more than one in five flights on Australian overseas routes.
The Jetstar figures and an overall 14.2 per cent rise in Qantas Group February passenger numbers also bode well for the recovery of the travel industry generally and will step up competition with rival Virgin.
Qantas reported yesterday that it was filling more seats on its planes across the group and that yields were continuing to improve. Group traffic rose by 3.8 per cent in February, to push up the overall seat factor by 1 percentage point to 79.4 per cent.
Jetstar International, which will service 12 destinations when it starts flying to Fiji on Monday, continued to close the gap with Qantas and carried 310,000 passengers for the month, compared with Qantas international's 462,000. Its impressive growth outstripped rising capacity to see it fill more of its seats, its load factor rising a strong 5.3 percentage points to 79.7 per cent.
Jetstar also led the growth in the group's domestic operations with a 13.7 per cent rise in passenger numbers to 632,000 and a 3.8 percentage point rise in load factors to 82.7 per cent. It now carries half as many passengers as Qantas domestic services.
The low-cost carrier's good showing was part of an overall encouraging trend at Qantas.
Group passenger numbers for the financial year to February were up 7.7 per cent and the load factor was 2.1 points higher at 81.9 per cent.
Yields, excluding foreign exchange, remained lower than last year but continued to improve. Domestic yields for the year to February were 5.1 per cent down on the previous period while international yields were down 18.5 per cent.
"Qantas international yields showed continued improvement with monthly yields moving from 7.7 per cent lower verses the previous year in January, to 0.1 per cent lower in February," the airline said, noting that overall international yields were adversely affected by Jetstar's growth.
February passenger numbers on Qantas domestic routes rose by 5 per cent as the airline filled 79.1 per cent of its seats, up 5 points on the previous February.
Regional carrier QantasLink reported a 5 per cent rise in passenger numbers but a small dip in load factors. Qantas international passenger figures were still 16.6 per cent down on last year, but continued to fill eight out of 10 seats.