Qantas's weak international network

[lucas2019]

Remember in the good old days where Qantas had a vast international network, now they have a very bad one?

 

[juddles]

I recall the 80's when they flew to Tahiti with two sectors. Now they fly direct to South America

 

[docjames]

Remember when Qantas had a huge network and lost stacks of money every year as a result (at the taxpayer expense).....

 

[lucas2019]

Qantas used to fly to EZE, until around a few years ago. They thought it was too dangerous. Now they fly to SCL direct. Back in those days, they flew SYD-AKL-EZE (I think), and also flew SYD-EZE. What are your thoughts on Qantas terminating Buenos Aires? More information on why they did terminate EZE would be greatly appreciated!

 

[dajop]

I have a timetable from 1997, not really all that much different in terms of overall number of destinations. It had MAN (via LHR), FRA (5 days a week), which 3 days a week continued to Paris (ie. CDG via FRA). 2x week to FCO. QF went to ICN and TPE but not PVG or PEK back then. No JFK or DFW. No MEL-LAX/SFO. No BNE-LAX, SYD-SFO ( but did go 3xweekly via HNL).

KUL then, but lower frequency to SIN. JNB-PER 1x weekly. HRE-PER 1x weekly. No SCL. MEL-AKL 1 x per day. I could go on.

The point is there is a tendency to over romanticise the past. More destinations in Europe, yes , but you can thank the middle eastern carriers for the loss of these. Overall on the network (except for Europe) generally greater frequencies and more destinations from MEL and BNE as well.

If you go back further into the past - yes Qantas used to have all sorts of exotic destinations. They had to as aircraft couldn’t fly non stop. But now they can, so things have changed. It is what it is.

 

[dajop]

More information on why they did terminate EZE would be greatly appreciated!

Very simple, they have a strong partner in SCL (LATAM) that can carry people to/from other destinations in South America. They didn’t in EZE.

 

[ric_melb]

I would say there are various reasons why Qantas flies to Chile rather than Santiago. These could include:
Qantas prefers just one destination in South America rather than tag flights to a second destination.
At the time Santiago was chosen Chile may have been more stable than Argentina.
One World partner LATAM is based in Chile.
More convenient to fly to Santiago and let LATAM fly passengers on to Buenos Aires.
More people of Chilean origin live in Australia than those of Argentinian origin.

 

[lucas2019]

Qantas used to fly to VIE once, but now they don't. I surfed the Net and found a picture of a Qantas 744 or 743 diverted to VIE. Anyone know why they terminated VIE, and why they diverted a 744 or 743 to there?

 

[AIRwin]

QF went to ICN and TPE but not PVG or PEK back then.

I've flown SYD-SHA on a QF B767 back in June 1997 (before PVG was built) and the flight continued on to PEK...

 

[lucas2019]

Qantas diverted that flight to VIE because of a medical emergency, but I still don't know why they terminated VIE... any ideas and theories?

 

[moa999]

The total number of seats that QF flies internationally has grown (bigger and more planes) but the number of destinations has shrunk as flights have become (out of necessity to attract the high yielding business traveller) daily and double daily with greater reliance on codeshares at each end.

No different to the lack of European carriers flying to Australia these days.

Put simply it's a different world these days and a lot more competition.

 

[drron]

Before 1997 there were a lot more international destinations.
In the 80s we flew SYD-SFO.Plus PPT.
In the 90s we flew to DPS in a 747 and into BOS.
There are a lot of terminated destinations-
List of Qantas destinations - Wikipedia

 

[dajop]

I've flown SYD-SHA on a QF B767 back in June 1997 (before PVG was built) and the flight continued on to PEK...

Oops, you are indeed correct. Sorry the timetable I was looking at was July 1993, not 1997, The 1997 does show 4xweekly PEK/PVG service, 4x weekly to BOM via SIN and increased JNB frequency.

 

[lucas2019]

Qantas used to have a strong presence on the Middle East. They operated services to Bahrain and Tehran using 742s, to Karachi using either 701s or 703s, Damascus and to Dubai, using 388s. Now they don’t fly to ANY of those destinations. Can you tell me why they don’t? Thanks, because I’d really like to know!

 

[Mattg]

Qantas' international network looks pretty good against Virgin Australia's network

I do miss the days that they flew to more destinations in Europe (such as Frankfurt) though.

 

[lucas2019]

But what about their Middle East destinations that I posted earlier? Any reason why they were terminated?

 

[moa999]

But what about their Middle East destinations that I posted earlier? Any reason why they were terminated?

You no longer need to make multiple stops on the way to London. On the whole they were simply refueling points (and in general not as tourist friendly as they once were).

Dubai swapped back to Singapore for better connections and they had the EK codeshares

 

[pauly7]

But what about their Middle East destinations that I posted earlier? Any reason why they were terminated?

Honestly is actually very simple. Qantas (well any well run airline) will fly where the can make the most money. They cut routes that don’t make an appropriate return on investment and launch routes where they think they will.

The only other thing to note is QF relies on premium cabins internationally so their route network predominantly follows either premium business or premium leisure loads and all the trends and changes in those markets.

 

[dajop]

They operated services to Bahrain and Tehran using 742s, to Karachi using either 701s or 703s, Damascus and to Dubai ....

They used to fly through, not to those cities. Modern aircraft do not need to stop over in such ports any more to refuel. They haven’t flown through most middle eastern ports for many years (Dubai being the sole exception). Today’s route from MEL to London goes through PER, not a bunny hop via Singapore, Mumbai, Bahrain etc.

That aside look at the political situation with Iran, Pakistan, and especially Syria. Few, if any western carriers go to cities in those countries. Even SQ pulled out of Karachi about 15 years ago because most businesses stopped letting there employees travel there and business traffic provides good margins for the airline.

With Dubai it was a commercial decision to reroute those services to London via PER and SIN.

 

[lucas2019]

OK, so as far as I know, the reasons why Qantas doesn't fly to specific destinations is like this:

Buenos Aires: Too dangerous
Vienna: Too much competition
Bahrain: Don't need to refuel on long routes
Tehran: Too dangerous
Karachi: Too dangerous
Damascus: Too dangerous
Dubai: Partnership with EK / Moved stopover to Singapore to improve Asian network

That's the list so far, feel free to give me corrections and tips, they would be greatly appreciated!