Articles tagged “qantas”

Australia’s airlines are urging the government to rein in the airports, claiming they are abusing their monopoly power to extract unreasonable charges. It’s a tough call for Canberra, which wants to see more investment in airport infrastructure, but doesn’t want to be seen allowing price gouging from some of the most profitable airport operators in the world.

As the Air New Zealand-Virgin Australia alliance on services across the Tasman Sea comes to an end, Virgin will not take the snub from its Kiwi counterpart lying down. It is already flagging improved services and better frequent flyer rewards and trying to block rival Qantas from working with its former ally.

Few airlines take marketing and public relations as seriously as Qantas. The airline should be commended for its efforts to persuade passengers they want to spend 17 hours on a plane, when they have other options.

Travelers can leverage effective strategies to limit jet lag. There's only one problem. Most people lack the willpower to follow advice from the scientific community. That hasn't stopped Qantas, which hired a specialist to help.

Until Air France-KLM implements a long-term cohesive strategy, it probably will keep falling behind its main competitors, International Airlines Group and Lufthansa Group. But unless the macroeconomic environment changes, it should be OK. Even with rising fuel prices, now is a good time to be in the airline business.

You have to give Qantas some credit for its public relations strategy. It will be at least four years before the airline launches "hub-busting" flights to New York or London from Sydney but the airline already has almost everyone in the airline industry talking about its plans.

Aviation nerds surely will be upset Qantas is retiring its Boeing 747s. The aircraft has been the world's most iconic jet for decades, but times change, and airlines now prefer smaller, more fuel efficient twin-engined jets. Sadly only a few airlines — British Airways, Lufthansa, Korean Air and Air China — seem committed to the aircraft beyond 2020.

Tag flights — when an airline lands in one international city and then almost immediately takes off for another — are disappearing from aviation as more airlines launch ultra-long-haul nonstops that make the stop unnecessary. But Qantas will probably keep its Los Angeles-New York nonstop for awhile.

The fine here is miniscule. But the issues are interesting. Qantas has the right to fly between New York and Los Angeles, and it does so every day. But it can only carry a small subset of passengers.

Qantas' new pilot academy may address the airline’s needs, but won’t solve an imbalance which has already seen regional Australian airlines cancel and reschedule services. Meanwhile, the government has bowed to pressure and will again grant temporary visas to pilots after scrapping them last year.