Qantas To Boost Domestic Flights
Qantas To Boost Domestic Flights – Qantas said it would expand its capacity by 9.6 per cent, while Jetstar would swell by up to 30 per cent this year when all the extra flights were operating.
The Qantas expansion is being viewed by some industry watchers as an opportunistic move against domestic rivals Virgin Blue and Tiger Airways.
Yesterday’s announcements came a day after Tiger revealed it was quitting two underperforming routes from Adelaide.
It also came on the eve of today’s release of financial results by Virgin Blue, which recently slashed its annual profit outlook from $80 million to between $20 million and $40 million.
Over the next nine months, Qantas plans to add 65 weekly return services within Australia, and Jetstar 120, adding at least another 66,000 seats a week to their services, with seven more aircraft put to work.
It is also a signal from the airline group that a consumer recovery is under way after the global financial crisis. ”We are seeing improved demand domestically, and the introduction of these additional services and aircraft will see the Qantas group well placed to meet this demand,” said chief executive Alan Joyce.
For Qantas the new planes will work the east coast and east-west routes, as well as routes within the boom state of Western Australia. At Jetstar, the immediate focus is on Cairns, with 25 extra weekly return flights along the east coast.
Tags: Additional Services, Adelaide, Airline Group, Alan Joyce, cairns, Chief Executive, Domestic Flights, East Coast, Global Financial Crisis, jetstar, Nine Months, Profit Outlook, Qantas Domestic, Qantas Flights, Qantas Group, Return Flights, Rivals, State Of Western Australia, Tiger Airways, virgin blue
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