ABS Figures
The after Qantas chief Alan Joyce warned that international mainline operations were withering on the vine, new statistics show Qantas's A380 troubles drove down its November international market share to a record low of 18.7 per cent.
The sobering statistic means the group's total share of the international passenger market, including the 7.8 per cent commanded by Jetstar and 0.3 per cent attributed to Jetstar Asia, has fallen 1.4 percentage points to 26.8 per cent.
While much of the mainline 1 percentage point fall was probably due to the grounding of the A380 fleet after an engine explosion early in the month, it reflects a trend; in 2003, Qantas held 35 per cent of the market.
Mr Joyce has vowed to stop the decline and fix what he describes as underperforming business amid worries the full-service airline is approaching a critical point at which its network becomes so small that it begins to lose corporate customers.
He has given Lesley Grant a task force of 20 to sift through options of expanding and improving the flagship business.
Mr Joyce also warned of the capacity flooding into Australia from overseas airlines.
The market share of Singapore Airlines, which was also caught up in the A380 engine problems, fell 0.7 percentage points to 9.7 per cent.
Air New Zealand's share rose 0.8 points to 8.6 per cent, while Emirates dropped 0.3 points to 7.8 per cent.
Overall, the figures were good news for Australia. Passenger numbers on the 53 scheduled international airlines serving the country were up 6 per cent from November to 2.2 million.
Weather conditions on the east coast led airlines to post their third-worst on-time performance on record in December.
Cancellations were as high as 5 per cent on routes into Queensland.
Last edited by Crossing Guard; 4th Feb 2011 at 21:29.