Qantas and the elephant?
Reposted from D&G Q
A quick look at some Chinese stats (say at China General Information, China Information, the People's Republic of China) shows huge growth. We all seem to know this and it is all over the media.
Even in 2007 there were an estimated 80 million in the middle class (income RMB from 50,000 to 500,000 p.a.). Many of these people will fly regularly.
International air traffic in and out of China is growing substantially with China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan and Air China all offering increasing services to/from Australia.
A quick survey (may not be entirely correct) shows that Qantas by comparison has one direct return a day to Shanghai (QF129/127), no direct flights to Beijing or Guangzhou (but you can get there via Hong Kong or Shanghai via Dragonair). There are single daily services between Aust and Hong Kong from Brisbane (QF 97/98) Sydney (QF 127/128) and Mel (QF 29/30), but Cathay is certainly working hard to develop its share.
I am too lazy to do the legwork, but a quick glance at the numbers of flight shows that the bulk of the ASKs (Aust-China) are flown by the Chinese airlines, and their share is incraesing.
The elephant (a really big one) in the room is China, and many Australian businesses are working hard to get a share of that market, Qantas excepted.
Does the Qantas Board and the CEO realise there is an elephant in the room? Is it a cunning trick to lull the opposition Chinese carriers into a false sense of security by giving them a head start (tortoise and the rabbit stuff)?
Seems to me the Board and CEO are fiddling while Rome is burning; playing silly buggers on relatively miniscule (to the company bottom line) EBA issues while the major business of the airline (developing and implementing a sensible Chinese strategy) is being ignored.
Of course what does a simple Ppruner know? - perhaps not much, but the Shareholders are very unhappy right now with a Qantas share price on a two year low of <$2 today.