AUST-TURKEY air services agreement

[Laurent Sanhard]

I think if you read the article i posted through , then it is hard to argue with what it is saying, basically it is 2010 , not the 70's , change with the times or get left behind,

I think most will agree

[D Chan]

I agree with Andrew's point completely regarding the number of European carriers that have abandoned the Australian market and there is indeed plenty. The lack of mention to this fact alongside some of the previous points Andrew raised suggest to me that the GLG article is pretty thin on substance.

However I do disagree with the comment about 'unfair playing field' which I think is a matter of opinion. What it comes to is playing the hand you've been dealt and ultimately, making the best out of it. Qantas most certainly didn't complain about the transpacific US routes previously when it was a cosy duopoly and had it good for a pretty long time.

There is a lot of work that Qantas needs to do internationally to claw back market share. My view is that whilst Jetstar canabalised some of the Qantas intl routes, this strategy in most likelihood has reduced the potential/possible loss in marketshare for the whole of the Qantas Group had this strategy not been adopted. Amidst all the doom and gloom I personally think the picture will be very different when QF utilises their 787 internationally. This will open new opportunities and routes to Europe that were previously unviable to be flown with a 744 at say, a 3x weekly frequency. Having an aircraft with the legs to fly to Europe ex-SIN at a capacity between 200-250 will make seats easier to fill and allow greater frequency of flights - this will make a difference. For example 3x weekly on the 744 could be replaced by 5x weekly on the 787. The tables may very well turn when manufacturers develop an aircraft which is capable of flying non-stop to Europe from Australia some time in the future thus bypassing the intermediate hubs for good.

[Laurent Sanhard]

Andrew

I am a bit confused about what you wrote

quote "What benefit would Qantas have operating to the Middle East? They’re competing with carriers who enjoy a number of operational and economical advantages not available to Qantas. "


then you say quote
"Qantas is unable to obtain traffic rights to operate between the Middle East and Europe. If it could, Qantas would most certainly operate European services via the Middle East."

does'nt the first quote totally condradict the second one


I do agree that due to Australia's geographic location that Qantas does'nt have it easy , I just think they have to look at doing things differently if they want to survive the highly competitive airline market that is today's reality !

[Lee G]

An article in todays online Air Transport World -

THY shies from LOT acquisition, covets SE Asia/Australia expansion
Monday March 8, 2010
Resource Center

Meanwhile, THY is looking to expand its presence at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and to partner with fellow Star Alliance member Thai Airways in an effort to penetrate more of Southeast Asia and Australia. THY GM-Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia Adnan Aykac told the Bangkok Post that the airline is negotiating a codeshare agreement with Thai that would give it access to Australia and New Zealand, where TG serves a combined five destinations.

"While we are hopeful we can strike a deal with Thai later this year, we do have alternatives to support our growth in this region," he told the paper. THY reportedly plans to serve Ho Chi Minh City via BKK from the fall and also is considering flying to Kuala Lumpur and Manila."

May see Turkish Airlines in SYD - there again maybe not........

[Ash W]

Andrew agree 100% with you and have been saying the same myself for years.

Out of interest the post above this one really illustrates your point perfectly. Turkish clearly doesn't have the demand to operate direct flight to Australia, but does have demand to fly to a hub point where it can then share it's onwards passengers with it's Star Alliance partner Thai.

Qantas on the other hand also doesn't have enough demand to fly to the middle east simply because when they get there they then have no major partner to off load passengers to. If they did then maybe it could be justifed. And yes I do know Qantas has Jordanian in Amman, but they are hardly a major player like the other middle east carriers.

Emirates, Qatar, Ethiad etc on the other hand have large hubs, so can justify flights from Australia as they fly them in in bulk then distribute their passengers to the hundreds of other flights they operate from their hub ports.

Maybe the ideal thing would be to try and attract Ethiad or Qatar into OneWorld.

Qantas has clearly decided that what suits their route structure and passenger demand is a mini hub in Singapore. So really if Qantas wants to expand westwards any more and still provide a range of connections to Australian cities they are far better off expanding flights from Singapore and leave the middle east to Emirates and Ethiad.

[James Smith]

A very seamless service THY/Thai.