Emirates First To Blink On Kangaroo Route

[Brad Myer]

EMIRATES has become the first large airline flying into Australia to raise fares since the downturn in travel began, a sign the price war on the kangaroo route has reached bottom.

Emirates, the fourth-biggest airline flying to Australia, will raise fares booked in Australia by 7 per cent for all cabin classes from Thursday. Industry officials believe the Middle Eastern airline is attempting to stem some of the losses incurred from heavy fare discounting over the past six months.

Emirates and the Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad have been making a grab for market share on the kangaroo route between Australia and Europe at the expense of yields. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are the only European-based airlines still flying to Australia.

Even with the cheapest fares in years, the latest government figures show Emirates filled an average of just 62 per cent of seats on flights between Australia and the Middle East in April (the figures exclude onward traffic to New Zealand). Etihad's seat figure to and from Abu Dhabi was slightly better at almost 66 per cent.

But their figures pale beside Qantas's seat utilisation on the kangaroo route of 89 per cent in April, British Airways' 86 per cent and Virgin Atlantic's 73 per cent.

Singapore Airlines, the third biggest carrier into Australia, filled almost 80 per cent of seats on flights between here and Singapore in April.

Industry officials question whether other airlines will follow Emirates in raising fares - particularly Etihad - in light of a forecast 5 per cent increase in international capacity to Australia this year. However, Qantas's chairman, Leigh Clifford, recently said fares to Europe and North America were unsustainable in the long term.

"Emirates are trying to signal to all the other carriers to get those fares up but that is a big order," an industry official said, adding that it was difficult to raise fares in a downturn. "The whole kangaroo route has become a bloodbath."

Qantas has been banking on other airlines following its lead by cutting capacity to make flights profitable again.

British Airways is reducing capacity slightly but Emirates recently declared that it will not cut flights to Australia. It plans to add seven flights a week to its Australian service in December.

After years of stellar growth, Emirates has shown it is not immune to the travel downturn. Earlier this year it ordered 500 flight attendants to go on unpaid leave for several months.

Among the Middle Eastern carriers, Etihad has been the most focused on growth amid the downturn. Recently it increased its Australian destinations to three by adding services to Melbourne.

Qatar Airways will begin flights between Sydney and Doha later this year. It already flies daily to Melbourne.

62% Load factor aint that great compared to QFs 89% and BAs 86%

[James Smith]

What is the source of this quote? The last paragraph is inaccurate.

[D Chan]

LF does not equal yield therefore it all depends what the breakeven seatfactors and unit costs are. You can fill all seats with bums but not make a single cent from the flight

[NickN]

Personally I believe there is still a certain stigma attached to flying via the "Middle East".

Folks would still have concerns about flying through the region after all the instability in the present as well as the past.

Personally I see past that and would be happy to do it but for those who are perhaps a little on the conservative side may not share my opinion.

Would be interested to hear other members thoughts.

[Nathan Long]

When traveling to the UK with work recently, I got return economy for less than $2000 with EK with less than a weeks notice. All 4 legs MEL-DXB, DXB-LHR, LHR-DXB and DXB-MEL where 100% full. The check-in agent at LHR said the LHR-DXB leg on the A380 was oversold.

[Karl M]

Originally Posted by James Smith

What is the source of this quote? The last paragraph is inaccurate.

Ive seen a similar artical if not the same, on a travel website subscription.

[Brad Myer]

Sorry for the delay:

http://business.smh.com.au/business/...0719-dphv.html

[Sam Chui]

The bottom bit in the article says

Qatar Airways will begin flights between Sydney and Doha later this year. It already flies daily to Melbourne.


Is is correct? I thought Qatar is not starting until December for MEL ?

I highly doubt the source of those LF. But keep in mind, Emirates use a much bigger A380 airplane and have Much more flights departs from all major Australian Gateway than QF/BA/VS

[Jason H]

Qatar don't physically fly to MEL, they codeshare from Singapore with SQ, so SMH are bending the truth a bit there

[James Smith]

Refer to posts 10 and onwards of this thread for Qatar flights to Melbourne - 3 pw from 6/12/09 777LR. Daily in 2010.

http://yssyforum.net/board/showthread.php?t=3141&page=2&highlight=Qatar