QANTAS OFFERS TWO FOR ONE TO HELP DEMAND TAKE OFF
18 November 2008
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
QANTAS has launched a two-for-one ticket sale and even has people handing out pamphlets as it moves to stimulate demand for international travel.
The airline said there had been a strong response to the offer, which allows a second passenger to fly for the cost of taxes and charges.
September traffic figures revealed a 9.3 per cent fall in Qantas mainline international passenger numbers. The Association for Asia-Pacific Airlines also warned over the weekend that the global economic crisis had seriously affected passenger demand and the industry was facing ``severe turbulence''.
Incoming Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said that the September figures indicated a weakness in traffic.
``Cathay's seeing a weakness, Singapore's seeing a weakness,'' Mr Joyce said.
``International demand is trading down and we are seeing a bit of trade down at the moment.''
The traffic figures appear patchy, with CEO Geoff Dixon saying Jetstar and Qantas had experienced a good week prior to the latest sale.
However, Mr Dixon did not believe this was a trend.
Mr Joyce said fuel hedging would help Qantas.
Unlike some other carriers, the airline took out options that protected it if fuel prices dropped or increased.
``We're 93 per cent hedged on a worst-case scenario of $US106 and we're 75 per cent participating at the moment,'' Mr Joyce said. ``So we do have a benefit in our fuel coming down ... but it has been offset by some of the demand weaknesses that we've experienced.''
Asked about analysts' predictions that the airline would cut more capacity, Mr Joyce said Qantas continually reviewed its capacity and had been adjusting it, both up and down. He said it would continue to manage capacity aggressively ``in both directions''.
The Australian
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