Originally Posted by Rhys Xanthis (Post 5860)

edit: i bet virgin is grinning from ear to ear...e-jets are ready to shine in a BIG way.

Originally Posted by Michael Morrison (Post 5863)

Any bets JQ will drop some Japan routes with the announcements next week?

perhaps free up a 332 to replace QF on MNL/HNL totally or some NRT services from say PER?

Axing of SYD-CHC (mostly LCC's at CHC these days?)

Originally Posted by Greg F (Post 5881)

Their share prices a rocketing up!!! they are going great!!! (slight sarcasm :p)
Its funny that REX is making more $ per quarter than DJ does in a year..

...

Originally Posted by Montague S (Post 5874)

can anyone say the word merger?

Originally Posted by Marty H (Post 5885)

If that was the case what likely merge could take place?

Originally Posted by Jason Carruthers (Post 5893)

It's very odd JQ are dropping BNE-HBA meanwhile keeping it's 4x weekly BNE-LST rotation. I would have expected LST or both to go.

Originally Posted by Michael Cleary (Post 5892)

I am going to Zurich in October and made the Booking (Points Redemption) back in February. At that time the Taxes were AUD 482.88 - and a look now shows the Taxes to be AUD 547.18 for a Booking made today - and will probably be higher by the time that I depart.

Originally Posted by Greg F (Post 5870)

Also on the Tiger front I read somewhere with a big boss saying ' Tiger Australia is traveling reasonably well ' which isn't that convincing...

Originally Posted by Lukas Mahoney (Post 5907)

or when he goes
"We are not planning to raise fare prices across the board"" so Basically saying "Were commiting suicide"

Originally Posted by Michael Morrison (Post 5863)

perhaps free up a 332 to replace QF on MNL/HNL totally or some NRT services from say PER?

Axing of SYD-CHC (mostly LCC's at CHC these days?)

Originally Posted by Lukas Mahoney (Post 5926)

Didn't that A321 that was cancelled have a bad airframe???, or a not healthy airframe?

Originally Posted by Lukas Mahoney (Post 5924)

I think we might see those 9 Daily AVV-SYD services cut to at least 7

Originally Posted by Nigel C (Post 5949)

How do you surmise that? Inside info, or just a guess?

Originally Posted by Lukas

Didn't that A321 that was cancelled have a bad airframe???, or a not healthy airframe. Apparently its not in the best of conditions

Originally Posted by The Australian - Steve Creedy

QANTAS will accelerate its Sustainable Future restructuring program and could give a greater proportion of its flying to Jetstar as part of ongoing changes as it grapples with spiralling oil prices.

The carrier made front page news yesterday when it announced it would ground planes, withdraw from poorly performing routes, axe jobs and freeze executive salaries in response to the record cost of jet fuel.

Although the airline's extensive hedging means the high fuel prices are not expected to affect this financial year's record profit of about $1.4 billion, more expensive hedging in 2008-09 means fuel will cost it an extra $2 billion in 2008-2009.

The Qantas move to reduce capacity by 5 per cent was welcomed by financial analysts but has met with suspicion by unions.

It will be achieved by grounding seven Qantas mainline aircraft and one Jetstar A320 as well as cancelling a Jetstar A321 order.

Qantas and Jetstar are also canning five underperforming routes and reducing services on others. The routes, which were marginally profitable at lower fuel prices, have become unviable at current costs.

Next week, the group will also announce reductions to its international services, with analysts predicting mainline Japanese routes are among the most vulnerable.

But Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon made it clear this week that continuing high fuel prices meant the airline still had major changes to make.

"We've got a Sustainable Future program, as you know," he said. "We'll ramp that up more, we'll just have to push the envelope in every area.

"I mean, we're not the only airline doing this, of course.

"We've probably moved more quickly than others and that's been part of the reason of our success.

"Our big aim on this - because we've got a strong balance sheet and we're a strong airline, although we do need to meet our commitments - is that we want to be very strong and be able to grow again when the business changes.

"Now if the oil prices are here forever, that means we have to continue to change our model.

"We'll probably see more of Jetstar, but not necessarily at the expense of Qantas."

While unions decried the Qantas announcement as an industrial ploy, analysts welcomed it as a positive for the airline.

"Management is aggressively positioning the business to overcome unprecedented fuel costs before profit is impacted," JPMorgan analysts Matthew Crowe and Russell Crichton-Browne said in a note.

"This has not always been the case for Qantas.

"We expect the capacity cuts to be positives for load factors and yields, especially in the domestic market."

The analysts said the Qantas fiscal 2009 fuel guidance reflected current spot prices and implied a crude price of $US130 a barrel, with a refining margin of $US30 at a US95c exchange rate.

"We do not expect the current spot jet fuel price to be maintained in financial year 2009," the analysts said.

Despite the approval by analysts, unions yesterday attacked the Qantas cuts as an industrial strategy. Qantas is attempting to keep all its unions to a 3 per cent pay increase and is in dispute with its engineers, who want a 5 per cent rise. Its 3 per cent pay offer to Transport Workers Union members looks set to receive a similar rebuff.

WU national secretary Tony Sheldon yesterday described the capacity cutback announcement as industrial ambush.

"It reeks of industrial espionage," he said. "Qantas needs to be honest about what it is up to."

But Mr Dixon rejected the union claims. "It's total bull****," he said. "We didn't plan the escalation of oil at this time."