Qantas investor Day report; A380 deployment to Asia

[RooFlyer]

A story in the Oz from Friday's "Investor Day".

May be pay-walled, so a few extracts:

Major carriers are working on plans to ramp up their Asian strategies to capitalise on the burgeoning middle class, but yields face pressure as new
long-haul low-cost carriers enter the market.

Qantas Airways, which has already increased capacity to high-growth markets in Asia, is planning to deploy 40 per cent of its capacity to Asia in the 2018 financial year, up from 30 per cent in 2012.

The national carrier is cutting the share of capacity across the kangaroo route between Australia and London from 28 per cent to 13 per cent over the same time amid sluggish growth and fierce competition.

Qantas chief executive of international and freight, Gareth Evans told Friday’s investor day that the decision to use the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the new Perth-London flight would free up two A380s “for us to deploy into the fast-growing Asian markets and really will enable us to shape the schedules in Asia”.

“We’ve not announced where we’re flying those A380s because they will actually move around the region,’’ Mr Evans told investors.

“They will fly them heavily in the peaks, so we’ve got lots of seats when the demand is there, and we will basically move them around in the troughs.’’

Virgin Australia plans to launch direct flights to Hong Kong and could be flying to mainland China later this year.

Virgin has been granted interim authorisation by the competition regulator for a codeshare deal with China-based HNA Group including Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express Airways.
A Virgin spokeswoman said: “Virgin Australia’s entry into Hong Kong and greater China is a key pillar of our international strategy and will allow us to accelerate our access to Australia’s fastest growing and most valuable inbound travel market.’’

In December, China and Australia announced an open skies agreement, which is expected to spur a massive surge in traffic between the two nations.

 

[samh004]

If they're moving them around instead of giving them a route, they're not making best use of the cabins. I can't imagine they'd sell F for instance if they only used them in peak season. Useful for high status pax to just have the seat but high status pax might want to upgrade to the full experience too.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes, even allowing for the news article to not completely reflect what the spokes-person was saying, it seems extraordinary that they would use a couple of A380s as their 'swing' aircraft.

 

[mviy]

Well they did say recently that they'd move them between SIN and HKG flying from MEL/SYD

Emerald City in the F Cabin would be nice, but yes the true F experience would be even better.

I would have liked them to e.g. fly MEL-HKG on the A380 then codeshare onto LHR but that likely would not be good for the MEL-PER-LHR route's profitability and one would think wouldn't be permitted by the EK partnership.

 

[tomlee1986]

I hope they will use A380 for Melbourne to HKG route or upgage the service.. A330 is a bit small compared to CX product

 

[levelnine]

I hope they will use A380 for Melbourne to HKG route or upgage the service.. A330 is a bit small compared to CX product

Though the A330 product is better than the A380 product in both Y & J.

 

[Ansett]

Though the A330 product is better than the A380 product in both Y & J.

WOW I would agree that in some aspects the A330 J is better however in Y no way is the A330 better.

 

[Spongbob]

WOW I would agree that in some aspects the A330 J is better however in Y no way is the A330 better.

The two A330 Y seats near the windows can be better than any 3/4 seat configuration on the A380.

 

[njba]

The two A330 Y seats near the windows can be better than any 3/4 seat configuration on the A380.

Absolutely. I'd much rather suffer with my partner than suffer with my partner and one or two strangers.

 

[Ansett]

Absolutely. I'd much rather suffer with my partner than suffer with my partner and one or two strangers.

Simple solution book the upper deck Y seats

 

[JohnK]

Though the A330 product is better than the A380 product in both Y & J.

Qantas 747 and A380 are really good economy products. Not much can be said about the A330 economy product and I try to avoid where ever possible and prefer the EK 777 economy product over the Qantas A330.

 

[mannej]

Qantas 747 and A380 are really good economy products. Not much can be said about the A330 economy product and I try to avoid where ever possible and prefer the EK 777 economy product over the Qantas A330.

Just shows you how everyone is different. 3-4-3 on a 777 is inferior to the 2-4-2 on the A330 any day of the week.

 

[njba]

Simple solution book the upper deck Y seats

Ah, yes, of course! I had done so for a recent trip, and was looking forward to it, however then the J upgrade came through so sadly I missed out

 

[levelnine]

WOW I would agree that in some aspects the A330 J is better however in Y no way is the A330 better.

My reason for saying that is (a) the 2-4-2 configuration is better than 3-4-3 and (b) superior IFE. Though I do concede what others have said that you can get the same experience on the A380 in the upper deck though it can be hard to snag these seats.

 

[Berlin]

Though the A330 product is better than the A380 product in both Y & J.

Since when? I can't stand those cramped J seats on the A330. Give me the A380 over that any time (not to speak of the quieter operation, the drier air and the overall better 'feeling' on the big bird). But tastes are certainly different

 

[levelnine]

Since when? I can't stand those cramped J seats on the A330. Give me the A380 over that any time (not to speak of the quieter operation, the drier air and the overall better 'feeling' on the big bird). But tastes are certainly different

I prefer direct aisle access, non-drooping beds, more storage space and higher resolution TV screens, but as you said -- everyone has different tastes.

 

[moa999]

And I suspect the A380 product won't stay the way it is for long.

 

[Berlin]

And I suspect the A380 product won't stay the way it is for long.

I admit it's a bit outdated these days. But awesome if you travel with your better half (and, yes, not so awesome if you have a random stranger next to you).
Somehow that A330 product on QF in particular doesn't sit too well with me. And the best seat can't make up for the fact that those A330s are smaller, older aircraft.

 

[michaele]

If they're moving them around instead of giving them a route, they're not making best use of the cabins. I can't imagine they'd sell F for instance if they only used them in peak season. Useful for high status pax to just have the seat but high status pax might want to upgrade to the full experience too.

Could QF F be short lived? Any config changes would happen in line with the upcoming checks.. Do QF see the A380 as the premium service for their most prestigious transpac routes and where does F fit in with that?

 

[Berlin]

Could QF F be short lived?

I fear you might be correct here but then again I've feared this for quite a while now.

If QF F gets really phased out entirely one day, this would make a lot of people on here very very sad