Qantas passenger jump in October

[Wirraway]

AAP

Qantas passenger jump in October
December 10, 2004 - 12:14PM

In October, Qantas domestic traffic rose almost nine per cent while international traffic was up over six per cent compared to the same month last year, the carrier said.

Qantas domestic, QantasLink and Jetstar carried 2.033 million passengers in October, an 8.9 per cent jump on the same month last year.

Traffic on the three services measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) increased by 9.1 per cent in October while capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), jumped by 9.6 per cent.

This resulted in a revenue seat factor of 81.5 per cent, 0.4 percentage points lower than for October 2003.

Internationally, Qantas and Australian Airlines carried 810,000 passengers in October, a rise of 6.4 per cent last year.

International RPKs increased by 10.1 per cent in October 2004, while ASKs increased by 13.5 per cent over the same period.

The resulting revenue seat factor of 75.6 per cent was 2.3 percentage points lower than the previous year.

Overall passengers who flew the group's five services numbered 2.843 million in October, a rise of 8.2 per cent over the previous year.

RPKs increased by 9.8 per cent, while ASKs were up 12.2 per cent, resulting in a revenue seat factor of 77.5 per cent, which was 1.7 percentage points lower than the previous year.

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[Wirraway]

Sat "Sydney Morning Herald"

Qantas withstands competition, oil prices
By Scott Rochfort
December 11, 2004

Qantas has reported another strong lift in international and domestic passenger numbers in October.

The airline reported on Friday that it had carried 2.84 million passengers for the month, loads that were up 8 per cent on the previous year.

But the airline continued to feel the impact of the entry of its low-cost offshoot, Jetstar, to the market, as well as the rapid growth of Virgin Blue's fleet.

Qantas's domestic operations suffered a 7.8 per cent slump in yields compared with the previous October.

For September Qantas had reported a 7.7 per cent decrease in domestic yields, and for August a 8.3 per cent dip.

The airline had added 9.6 per cent more seats for the domestic market in the year to October, as Virgin Blue boosted its capacity by 38.3 per cent.

Yet Qantas's full-service domestic services reported a 0.2 percentage point increase in the seats filled for the month, to 82.7 per cent.

Virgin Blue had filled 80.1 per cent of its seats in October, which was down 3.6 per cent on the previous year.

Qantas's Jetstar reported load factors of 77 per cent.

Reflecting the ongoing recovery in the international aviation market, and the introduction of new services to Mumbai, India, Los Angeles, US, and London over the year, Qantas reported a 4.3 per cent lift in international passenger numbers to 735,000.

Amid signs of international carriers lifting business class fares over the year, Qantas reported a 4.4 per cent increase in international revenues for the month.

This was despite the airline's reporting a 4.4 per cent fall in load factors to 74.8 per cent for the year.

Qantas shares rose 2c to $3.57 on Friday, with the price of oil continuing to hold at around $US42 a barrel.

Another heartening sign for Qantas was that its leisure-based international carrier Australian Airlines reported further signs of a turnaround, by filling more seats in October. The airline subsidiary, which flies to Asian destinations such as Japan and Hong Kong, reported a $2.3 million second-half loss last fiscal year.

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[The Enema Bandit]

These reports can't be correct beause I thought that Richard Branson said that Virgin Blue's profits were down because of the cost of fuel. So how could Qantas have improved?

[wirgin blew]

Accountants can make the numbers do anything they like, just look at AN and Parmalat to name a few.

[Keg]

Enema, perhaps it is because QF is hedged against fuel costs much more effectively than DJ. For everything else, see wirgin's comments! :}

Given that the comments from QF also came out in a company release to the ASX on the 10th of December, the 'reports' are from QFs own reporting. Whether that makes them accurate or not is for the ASIC (not the card) to decide! :E

[ferris]

How do you get away with charging "fuel surcharges" if you are hedged?
A gullible public?