Qantas "letting us down", says SA tourism chief

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Qantas "letting us down", says tourism chief | NEWS.com.au

THE South Australian Tourism Commission has urged operators to switch their business from Qantas to overseas-based airlines because they better service Adelaide.


"Qantas is letting us down," SATC chief executive Andrew McEvoy told more than 100 operators at an inbound tourism conference yesterday in Adelaide.


Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith backed the call, encouraging people to use international flights through Adelaide, not connecting via interstate airports.


Delivering what he called "a backhander" to Qantas, Mr McEvoy complained that the national carrier had only three Adelaide international flights a week – to Singapore.


"South Australia has the most underserviced airport of any capital city in Australia," he said.


Mr McEvoy told The Advertiser: "We are under-represented by our national carrier.


"I am saying to the tourism operators they should consider the best ways of getting their customers to SA.


"The carriers that come here on a daily basis should be supported."


Mr McEvoy named Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, which each fly daily through Adelaide, Air New Zealand, which plans daily services by February and Malaysia Airlines, which will have five flights a week this summer.


He told the inbound tourism operators those airlines deserved their support because they gave travellers the chance to start or end their Australian holidays in Adelaide.


Mr McEvoy said Adelaide Airport had 26 international flights a week compared with Perth, which had 80 and Brisbane on more than 100.

 

[aus_flyer]

"South Australia has the most underserviced airport of any capital city in Australia," he said.

Hobart?

.

 

[Hvr]

How about Canberra? No international flights at all.

 

[Dave Noble]

How about Canberra? No international flights at all.

Ahh, but as Canberra Airport already promotes in its aim to be Syndeys 2nd airport ( News & Media - Sydney's Second Airport ) it is only 3 hours from Sydney ... so hardly needs international flights since it is just down the road from Sydney

Dave

 

[simongr]

I was stunned that there was no airside QP for int'l travellers at ADL when I passed through there recently.

 

[davi]

I have to agree that Qantas need to lift their game in Adelaide. International flights out of Adelaide on the other carriers tend to be full, so i'm unsure why Qantas continues to neglect this route. It is also disappointing that there isn't a separate Qantas Club for international departures.

On a separate note, i'm disappointed with Jetstar for, from my experience, telling Adelaide passengers that overseas flights are full IF ONLY FLYING FROM ADELAIDE!. I have recently found when trying to book a flight for late december/ early Jan to Ho Chi Minh city on all of their classes, that if you enter departing from Melb or Syd on Jetstar and wishing to go to HCM, it appears available, but not from Adelaide????? connecting flights from adelaide to the international flight were certainly not the problem for them stating unavailable. (If anyone can explain this phenomenon I would be interested?)

As a Q ff and QC member, I was very disappointed to have had to book a flight on Malaysian Airlines for boxing day to go to Hanoi. I went to several travel agents who were unable to book me on a qantas codeshare and then a connecting non codeshare domestic flight in asia. As a result, Qantas (and Jetstar) have lost my custom for this time anyway.

 

[oz_mark]

I have to agree that Qantas need to lift their game in Adelaide. International flights out of Adelaide on the other carriers tend to be full, so i'm unsure why Qantas continues to neglect this route. It is also disappointing that there isn't a separate Qantas Club for international departures.

SOmething to do with a lack of aircraft I expect. They have to deploy what they have got as efficiently as they can. Also, Adelaide is not really a hub for them.

On a separate note, i'm disappointed with Jetstar for, from my experience, telling Adelaide passengers that overseas flights are full IF ONLY FLYING FROM ADELAIDE!. I have recently found when trying to book a flight for late december/ early Jan to Ho Chi Minh city on all of their classes, that if you enter departing from Melb or Syd on Jetstar and wishing to go to HCM, it appears available, but not from Adelaide????? connecting flights from adelaide to the international flight were certainly not the problem for them stating unavailable. (If anyone can explain this phenomenon I would be interested?)

I have noticed this recently when looking at some flights ex-PER, so they aren't picking on ADL. Perhaps they haven't set things up properly with the code share stuff.

As a Q ff and QC member, I was very disappointed to have had to book a flight on Malaysian Airlines for boxing day to go to Hanoi. I went to several travel agents who were unable to book me on a qantas codeshare and then a connecting non codeshare domestic flight in asia. As a result, Qantas (and Jetstar) have lost my custom for this time anyway.

You just have to go with what you can get. If QF aren't suitable, then go elsewhere. You don't need to show misplaced loyalty to them.

 

[city8flyer]

In my opinion, people flying from Adelaide with SQ, MH & CX do so for two main reasons:
1. SQ offers better connections (many destinations in Europe and Asia), and stopping through Changi in my opinion is a better experience than stopping through any international australian port.
2. People preferring SQ's product over QF's product.

Qantas's hands are tied, in that there is just not the demand to increase their number of flights. For this, I do not blame them for not expanding.

 

[pauly7]

Qantas's hands are tied, in that there is just not the demand to increase their number of flights. For this, I do not blame them for not expanding.

QF simply do not have the aircraft to increase their number of flights.

 

[yuppieshrink]

QF simply do not have the aircraft to increase their number of flights.

So Qantas is making a commercial decision.......and the SA government is making one too, encouraging the SA public to support the airlines that provide a decent service to Adelaide. I usually fly QF but I'm sick of flying to the east coast to connect internationally. Singapore will open a business lounge in Adelaide within 6 months....QF has too much of a monopoly especially to the US and domestically. Lets open it up, Adelaide needs the economic boost.

 

[NM]

I think city8flyer has it right with his point #1. Its not a lack of aircraft at QF, but the fact that ADL is not a hub for QF, not does QF have a major hub in Europe. So QF can only offer a very few number of destinations from ADL, being SIN, LHR, FRA, and even if they had the demand to operate to BKK and HKG its still a very limited number of destinations.

At the same time, SQ and CX can offer hundreds of destinations beyond SIN and HKG since they are flying from ADL to their major hubs. So in QF terms, this is like flying ADL-SYD and then on to any of hundreds of destinations.

So in my view it is perfectly understandable that SQ and CX offer more international flights from ADL than QF does. And anyone who expects QF to offer the same or higher frequencies does not understand the reality of the situation.

 

[dajop]

Probably an interesting comparison for Adelaide would be AC services to Edmonton or Ottawa. Both cities have metro populations of around 1 million, but very few direct international services (except US), as too close to AC's hubs.

 

[straitman]

Probably an interesting comparison for Adelaide would be AC services to Edmonton or Ottawa. Both cities have metro populations of around 1 million, but very few direct international services (except US), as too close to AC's hubs.

This is dependant upon whether you subscribe to the 'Hub & Spoke' mentality, as their is an increasing push away from this as airlines share their facilities.

In the QF case I believe the reality is a combination of 'Hub & Spoke' and a lack of other available options due fleet issues.

 

[pauly7]

QF has too much of a monopoly especially to the US and domestically. Lets open it up, Adelaide needs the economic boost.

Lol, QF hardly has a monopoly domestically, careful you will have the Virgin cheerleaders in here fighting you on that one