the Qantas chief executive made the point that while Qantas’ twin-brand domestic business was very strong and profitable and there was a tremendous opportunity for the Jetstar brand in particular in Asia – Jetstar is the biggest low-cost carrier by revenue in the region already and is growing rapidly – Qantas International was, financially, falling ‘significantly short’’ of where it should be.
AJ gives the game away in these few words.. it's all positive about J* and all Brand Qs fault. It's obvious that J* is still his baby and it's all he knows.
Joyce has been there just over 2 years and nothing has changed. Two ports in Europe , not a hope there against many other carriers who offer not only 15/25 destinations but also 2/3 services a day from Syd/Mlb/Bne
Yep agree, I remember when Q announced QF 5/6 SYD/FRA will be moved from BKK to SIN (when I was based in Thailand) and a good friend who was a station manager for a large EU carrier said "Das is crazy, QF have shot themselves in the foot." He went on to say, QF are crazy to put all their eggs in the Singapore basket for the Qantas brand, and they will let the ME carriers pick up the slack via BKK to Oz. (now daily EK 418/19 to give one example.) Qantas had a great name in Thailand and he saw BKK as a growth center for Q mainline. He knew many of his airlines pax preferred Qantas from BKK to FRA, he was grateful for the free business gift. He felt at the time BKK was geographically better placed for QF one stops to Europe for Australian and European premium passengers. His reason, pax prefer the shorter flying time from say LHR to BKK rather than the extra time on to SIN. From the day QF 5/6 moved to SIN, BKK was served by QF1/2 only, hard to get a seat either direction, and nobody enjoyed the scrum at the check in shared by BA at Bangkok. EK had a walk up dream run.
As time went by with the advent of J* Asia, my friend glad of the extra business provided by Qantas on the FRA sector suggested that it would be good if J* serviced Chiang Mai direct from Australia and moved some QF mainline flights back via BKK from SIN. His reason, Some major European airlines once served BKK and SIN using the same aircraft. The BKK SIN sectors became unprofitable and were dropped. Also his data suggested Singapore as a tourist destination has lost its shine in preference to Thailand Cambodia and Vietnam. BKK had became a better transit point for these growing markets. I asked "why J* to Chiang Mai?" The answer, J* looks good in SIN with the setup it has, he simply believed if J* was already serving SIN BKK why not connect with CNX and have the best of both worlds, the premium and the leisure markets operating via two of SE Asia's major hubs, SIN and BKK. J* could expand one stops from CNX & SIN.
I think we all agree, QF International is an icon airline in the aviation world, built up over the years by some "proud old builders," sure it has been through some bad patches over its long history, but not like we have had to endure over the past seven or eight years (imho; directionless me me me management) leading to the market share it has today, a smidgen under 20%.
QF & J * are totally different products and should be treated as such.
that's my two cents worth. cheers
