Wed "Courier Mail"
Airlines low-fare dogfight
By Steve Creedy
02apr03
VIRGIN Blue and Qantas yesterday ramped up the battle for domestic passengers with sales offering fares rarely seen since Ansett's collapse.
Virgin said its network-wide "Out of the Blue" internet sale offered discounts of up to 45 per cent, with deals starting at $69 on routes such as Sydney-Brisbane and Melbourne-Sydney, and $129 one-way to and from Perth.
Qantas countered by releasing a million seats on 40 routes with one-ways as low as $79 on Sydney-Melbourne and $199 on Sydney-Perth.
With about $28 in taxes and charges on flights in the Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne "golden triangle" now included in ticket prices, this puts both base fares below the $66 specials available before Ansett failed.
Both sales are for travel in May and June but some country passengers will get an early bonus from a Regional Express sale offering $99 one-way fares on all flights within NSW, Victoria, South Australia and to Canberra.
Qantas said its sale was designed to complement a first wave of cheap fares that saw short holiday packages cut this weekend by up to 40 per cent.
"By making 1 million of these low-priced seats available, we believe we can offer maximum flexibility to get our customers to their destination and home again, and help stimulate tourism Australia-wide," said Qantas executive general manager sales and marketing John Borghetti.
Virgin officials denied their sale was in response to the Qantas holiday packages, saying the discounts were already in the pipeline to stimulate travel over the traditionally quiet May period.
"We're about low fares the year round, not just because we have extra 747s on the ground," said Virgin head of commercial David Huttner.
The Qantas package deals, available through the airline's holiday arm as well as through its wholesale travel partners, offer return fares and choice of accommodation or car rental from $218.
"I think there's going to be a lot more leisure-consumer deals available domestically than there has been for some time," said Tourism Queensland executive general manager commercial Paul Scurrah, who sells the Qantas packages through Sunlover Holidays.