Qantas Shrinking Footprint
Qantas loses battle for rising passenger numbers
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer From: The Australian October 29, 2010 12:00 QANTAS mainline's share of the growing number of international passengers has slumped 40 per cent over the past decade.
The onslaught of hub and low-cost carriers has caused the decline, new figures show.
The slump comes as overall international passenger numbers flying in and out of Australia have soared from less than 16 million at the start of the decade to a record 25.6 million in 2009-10.
This includes a 9.1 per cent increase on 2008-09 figures as Australian aviation bucked the global financial crisis to post solid passenger growth both internationally and domestically.
The figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics show Qantas mainline's share of the international market in 2009-10 was 19.5 per cent -- 15 percentage points down on 1999-2000.
Even the rising footprint of Jetstar, which went from zero market share to 8.1 per cent last financial year, failed to stem a shrinkage for the overall Qantas group.
This was well below the 34.5 per cent share Qantas enjoyed at the start of the decade.
Qantas remained the dominant player in international markets, followed by Singapore Airlines (9.7 per cent), Jetstar (8.1 per cent), Air New Zealand (8 per cent) and Emirates (7.9 per cent).
The share of passenger traffic accounted for by Australian designated airlines slipped from 37.9 per cent in 1999-2000 to 32.8 per cent last year but was up slightly on the 2004-05 result of 32.1 per cent as V Australia and Strategic Airlines joined the fray.
The figures also highlighted the phenomenal growth of low-cost carriers over recent years.
They accounted for 18 per cent of the overall passenger market, up from 13.7 per cent in 2008-09 and 10.9 per cent in 2007-08.
Jetstar accounted for almost 45 per cent of the market followed by Pacific Blue with just under 34 per cent.
Domestically, passenger numbers grew 3 per cent in 2009-10 to 51.76 million after taking off in the second half.
The number of seats rose 1.7 per cent to 66.6 million while load factors increased from 78.6 per cent for the year ending June 2009, to 79.5 per cent last year.
The fastest growing domestic routes were Adelaide-Gold Coast, Cairns-Townsville, Port Macquarie-Sydney and Melbourne-Sydney.
Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the growth underscored the industry's resilience but also the benefit of government stimulus packages.