Philippine Airlines axes Brisbane flights

[futaris]

PAL axes Brisbane flights | Travel Weekly

Philippine Airlines will axe flights from Brisbane to Manila from October 31, just seven months after resuming operations on the route after a 10-year absence.
The “temporary suspension” will also impact flights from Melbourne, which will reduce from five to three per week. The five times weekly service from Sydney remains unchanged.

It also emerged that chief commercial group advisor Richard Miller has left the carrier after his 18-month contract was not renewed.

The axing of the Brisbane flights comes less than a month after senior executives proclaimed an improved performance out of Australia, including record winter sales (Travel Today, September 16). Miller told Travel Today in May that the Brisbane flights would “take some time” to gain traction.

Airline spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the decision to halt Brisbane flights was due to market conditions and the upcoming low season.

 

[docjames]

Perhaps QF have upped the ante, along with use of A330 on the route??

 

[markis10]

I think it might be more related to JQ starting to fly there rather than an improvement of equipment, as I have said elsewhere I expect it to be all JQ by end of next year, time will tell.

 

[docjames]

I think it might be more related to JQ starting to fly there rather than an improvement of equipment, as I have said elsewhere I expect it to be all JQ by end of next year, time will tell.

You may be right, although a bit weird QF would route the A330 there, then withdraw (you'd think they'd just keep the old 763s there until pulling out).

JQ will absolutely kill Philippines on the route cost-wise. QF may stay to be an option ex-SYD (only) for "premium" pax.

 

[anat0l]

You may be right, although a bit weird QF would route the A330 there, then withdraw (you'd think they'd just keep the old 763s there until pulling out).

JQ will absolutely kill Philippines on the route cost-wise. QF may stay to be an option ex-SYD (only) for "premium" pax.

Personally I have no idea how QF was packing them in with the old 763s on that route (then again, they were also using the said aircraft to Japan! Yeesh! And Hawaii!! Double Yeesh!!! :shock On further observation, it isn't a daily route, though.

QF may be the only non-stop option for oneworld from Australia to Manila. I'm not sure whether JQ would absolutely kill PR on this route, because PR isn't a low cost airline. Perhaps the yield from JQ might be better, but that's it, and it's not exactly the most optimal move anyway (then again, many people not on this forum probably don't give two figs about flying JQ vs anyone else, as long as it's cheap and gets you there safely).

The plethora of indirect routes, e.g. using SQ, BI or MH, are usually very competitively priced against the non-stop carriers (i.e. a lot of the time, cheaper). Especially SQ for Star Alliance and clearly one of the real premium options for flying to MNL. Probably doesn't suit a small family or if you're not high on time, but otherwise....

 

[dajop]

JQ really going to fly to MNL? Or just route people through SIN and onto 3K ... the long way around.... or via DRW like they do with SGN?

Some lovely spots in the Philippines (MNL not being one of them), but wonder if they're beyond the frame of reference of the average Jetstar traveller, who invariably will need on onward flight on PR, SE Air or Cebu Pacific.

 

[docjames]

I'm not sure whether JQ would absolutely kill PR on this route, because PR isn't a low cost airline. Perhaps the yield from JQ might be better, but that's it, and it's not exactly the most optimal move anyway (then again, many people not on this forum probably don't give two figs about flying JQ vs anyone else, as long as it's cheap and gets you there safely).

If PR have higher costs, JQ will undercut them on price, and the back of PRs planes are going to be very empty.......

 

[markis10]

JQ really going to fly to MNL? Or just route people through SIN and onto 3K ... the long way around.... or via DRW like they do with SGN?

Some lovely spots in the Philippines (MNL not being one of them), but wonder if they're beyond the frame of reference of the average Jetstar traveller, who invariably will need on onward flight on PR, SE Air or Cebu Pacific.

JQ announced DRW-MNL flights earlier in the week, up to 9 weekly services.

 

[pauly7]

Personally I have no idea how QF was packing them in with the old 763s on that route On further observation, it isn't a daily route, though....

As I've posted in another thread there is a stack of corporate and government travel going to the Phils.

 

[Flashback]

Personally I have no idea how QF was packing them in with the old 763s on that route (then again, they were also using the said aircraft to Japan! Yeesh! And Hawaii!! Double Yeesh!!! :shock On further observation, it isn't a daily route, though.

Yes, PER-NRT (which I have done and vv.) on a 763 wasn't that great, especially in J on an overnight flight :evil: at least my leg in whY I had 24F (so sans 23F) ; was as comfortable as the return in J in many respects.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I think it might be more related to JQ starting to fly there rather than an improvement of equipment, as I have said elsewhere I expect it to be all JQ by end of next year, time will tell.

More of a reason to CX or SQ to MNL!

 

[dajop]

JQ announced DRW-MNL flights earlier in the week, up to 9 weekly services.

Ok that actually makes sense, moreso than flying the 330 there. The DRW stopover may not be terribly attractive, but suspect that this service may be more targetted at Philippines market than the Aussie market, so that may not matter. Will be interesting to see if QF stays or goes, if it goes, that's probably to CX & SQ's benefit mainly.

 

[Ric]

What I don't understand is why would QF want to let JQ in if they are not thinking of withdrawing.

On the rare occasions that I have flew on this route, on both J and whY, the flights have been at least 85% full by my observation.

This route have been basically a duopoly for QF and PR. You seldom see discounts/sale offered on this route even in low season. As for high season, I once paid almost $3000 for SYD-MNL-SYD for my daughter to visit us in Manila 2 Christmas ago when we couldn't make it home for Christmas. And this fare was a discounted economy bought over 2 months before departure. one would presume that this would be a pretty good revenue earner for QF.

Please correct me if my assumptions are wrong. Spruce Goose? Dot?

 

[JohnK]

What I don't understand is why would QF want to let JQ in if they are not thinking of withdrawing.

Perhaps QF will not withdraw the MNL routes and could work the same as current JQ flights to SIN.

I don't believe JQ starting DRW-MNL services is going to have much impact on QF's services. One would think JQ will be targetting the Philippines market and possibly introduce new customers to the market.

Would anyone (other than the price conscious) want to route MEL/SYD/BNE-SRW-MNL on JQ? No thanks.

 

[docjames]

Pondering aloud, perhaps the real target is SIN-MNL travellers. Which is perhaps also part of the reason this service is ex-DRW as opposed to CNS-MNL.

Also, dont forget (!) LCCs can co-exist with full fare carriers of course.

There's probably a market for SYD-DRW-MNL to get a discounted price v SYD-MNL direct on QF at a higher price. There's probably also travellers who'd like to travel to MNL/Philippines but dont want to pay the price on QF but arent travelling at all currently, so that's the "growth" market for JQ. Combining this with SIN-MNL travellers and they preumably feel they have the numbers to be economically viable.

Will be interesting to see how it goes and how much existing MNL services are cannibalised.:?:

 

[PineappleSkip]

Interesting. I was just pricing a OW fare SIN-MNL and PR was very reasonable, not much more than 3K. Singapore/Silkair was a lot more.

Was looking at POM-MNL and Air Niugini appear to be increasing their frequency on that route from 2 767s a week to 3 from November onward.

Cheers skip

 

[dajop]

Pondering aloud, perhaps the real target is SIN-MNL travellers. Which is perhaps also part of the reason this service is ex-DRW as opposed to CNS-MNL.

There is no chance Jetstar is targeting SIN-MNL pax with DRW services. Jetstar Asia (3K) already fly that route directly. I can see them marketing services that involve small detours, but not for a routing turning a 1500 mile trip (SIN-MNL) into a 4000 mile trip (SIN-DRW-MNL).

 

[browski]

Probably doesn't suit a small family or if you're not high on time, but otherwise....

Funnily enough, if flying ex-MEL, the flight times to MNL are:
Qantas 10hrs 45min via SYD
Philippine Airlines 10hrs 30mins via SYD
Singapore Airlines 12hrs 20mins via SIN

It would be hard to pass up SQ on a 1 hour 50min difference. (Especially when you get the A380 on the MEL-SIN leg and it is $300 cheaper)