Centre for Aviation published this in August 22
Qantas Group asserting domestic market dominance
Qantas Group – comprising
Qantas Airways,
Jetstar,
QantasLink and
Network Aviation – controls approximately two thirds of the domestic market (61.2% of seats, 65.2% of ASKs and 53% of frequencies, as of early Aug-2022).
The goal for the group is a 70% domestic passenger share, which it intends to achieve through a combination of rapid fleet growth from FY2024 (year commencing Jul-2023), along with strategic acquisitions.
In May-2022
Qantas moved to acquire full ownership of
Alliance Airlines (pending regulatory approval).
Although Alliance is small – with a less than 1% market share – it has a consistently profitable fly-in/fly-out charter operation and a growing fleet of
Embraer E190s feeding limited scheduled services. Alliance’s
E190 fleet is due to grow from 20 to 33 aircraft by early 2023, potentially allowing
Qantas to open up new routes and to shift some of its domestic
737 fleet to routes that are better matched to capacity.
Qantas is also on the cusp of a major domestic fleet transition, starting a move to an all-
Airbus narrowbody fleet.
In May-2022 an order for 20 A321XLRs and 20 A220-300s was finalised, adding to the 108 A320neo family aircraft already on order. These will gradually replace its domestic 737NGs and
717 narrowbodies, with the new aircraft offering higher capacity, more range and better fuel efficiency. Deliveries are due to begin in mid-2023.
After nearly two and a half years of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic,
Australia’s largest airline group reported that it is “seeing a strong, sustained recovery in travel demand”.
However, fuel prices and workforce issues – including pilot and ground crew shortages – have resulted in it pulling back on ambitious capacity growth plans in recent months.
In Jun-2022 it announced that it would operate around 103% of pre-pandemic domestic capacity – down from an earlier plan to operate 110%; but it only managed around 90%.