(rumour) QFi to withdraw from Perth

[777]

Interesting opportunity for VA here if this does come to pass. Would love to seem them open AUH with their A330s (or for Etiahd to do it) and consider smaller/ less trafficked Asian/ Indonesia (Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Kota-Kinabalu etc) cities with their 737s. Once they are co-located with the international terminal and have a330s on the main domestic routes Perth becomes a viable point through which to funnel their international connections and/or to team up with the other international airlines servicing PER to put a squeeze on Qantas.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I think one of the problems is with the International Airport in Perth. Before Customs ... not too bad. After Customs ... dreadful really. There is very little to see in terms of shopping, the cafes are ordinary and after around 3 minutes you have seen it all. The Qantas Club in International? The most dreadful place really. Like a reasonably sized prison cell, very few windows, ordinary food and even more ordinary staff. If I ever find myself flying out of Perth International I just wouldn't go in to the Qantas Club.

Hopefully QFi will address this in the new Airport upgrade as it has gone on much too long.

EH

I think that even for a lady you've pretty much nailed it there Emily
I wouldn't fly internationally out of PER on QF for that reason.
Much better option to fly to MEL or SYD and lounge in style prior to the flight.

 

[anat0l]

It seems still a rumour, so where did it come from?

There's a lot of major talk here just for something that's still in rumour stage, with no "reference" (e.g. even to PPrune or something).


Assuming that the rumour is true, perhaps QF would do best to try and secure codeshares with MH and/or CX (latter unlikely).

Talking to a number of people from the West in mining (particularly FIFO and those who are not engineers, e.g. drivers, construction etc.), most of them are flying LCCs anyway for their leisure flights. That kind of surprised me a bit, though suffice to say most of them were going to Bali, which isn't serviced by QF metal anyway.

One of QF's PER/SIN services has a BA codeshare attached to it (or at least BA uses this service when they are searching out flights to PER, which is possible with BA). Can't imagine BA codesharing on JQ (and without flying to KUL, they can't piggy back on MH either).

I really don't see normal Australians (who we deem are inferior to AFFers as seasoned travellers) or even AFFers thinking it reasonable (more often than not, if at all) to cross the country, spending 3-5 hours to get to SYD or MEL in order to fly out of the country, particularly towards Asia. Sure, we like the F Lounges, but spending 3-4 hours and an overnight to do it? Alright, I'd do it but I'm probably 'that' crazy. (Also, probably would need to see how much extra time and cash that would involve). Let's not even mention that you can avoid the overnight by taking the red-eye flights to the gateway, but that onward flight then had better be in F or J because after that red-eye you'll be more wrecked than a NASCAR accident.

For PER residents wanting to fly QF to Asia or Europe, the side effect of removing QF metal services between PER/SIN would either:

• Force PER to QFi destination flights (Asia, Europe) to use a JQ sector to get to SIN (which is nil points for Economy Sale fares), or
• Push up all prices ex-PER to at least the levels for departures from the Eastern seaboard (which will guarantee almost nil success in sales)

For those reasons, I hope this rumour is just that - a rumour. Yes, QF's network ex-PER is pretty pitiful as it stands, but at a minimum QF should at least keep PER/SIN.


PER people - where do you really want to fly? (Apart from SIN and HKG... and of course LHR is too far away to get in one hit)

 

[SeatBackForward]

Hmmm maybe but I don't think that is true and in any case Simon Hickey has now been the top job for QFi and he IS a good operator! He did a really good job with Frequent Flyer.

EH

He made a lot of money for QF and it's shareholders. Remember, that is their primary purpose. If his brief is to build a case to dismantle QFi to stop losses against QF, he'll probably do a good job at that too.

Don't be surprised if withdrawal from PER is a case for an answer looking for a question.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AustFreqFly

 

[EmilyHoward]

I think that even for a lady you've pretty much nailed it there Emily
I wouldn't fly internationally out of PER on QF for that reason.
Much better option to fly to MEL or SYD and lounge in style prior to the flight.

LOL PF ... Exactly !!! See you in the F Lounge then in Sydney on 17 Dec before I fly out to LHR??? Actually, haven't seen you since that Qantas Plat1 lunch last year.

For a lady oh my gosh! ... wow ... that Perth Int Lounge is just awful. The domestic flouro lounge is much nicer but unusually bright ... and full!

EH

 

[Comoman]

It seems still a rumour, so where did it come from?

There's a lot of major talk here just for something that's still in rumour stage, with no "reference" (e.g. even to PPrune or something).

There is quite a bit of commentary in a dedicated thread about it on PPRune actually.

 

[anat0l]

There is quite a bit of commentary in a dedicated thread about it on PPRune actually.

Great, thanks for that. Sorry, I don't read PPRune, so useful to know where the rumour manifested.

 

[Danger]

Please, God. No.

 

[jpk]

Plenty of international flying happening out of PER, and lots of disposable income there, even amongst non-mining folk. I know the city & it's people very well. The problems for QF are:
- Emirates, cheap and quicker, and perceived to have a good product. 1 stop to anywhere in Europe.
- SIA, usually same or more cost as QF, but perceived to have a better product. Also 1 stop to anywhere.
- CX, good pricing out of PER, perceived to have a better product. Also 1 stop to anywhere.
- QF perceived to be a poor product (likely due to the sh!tboxes they fly to PER domestically, still lots of 767s)
- QF is only useful if you are going to SIN, HKG, LHR, FRA. Everywhere else you are codesharing or on JQ/3K or multiple stops.
- The timing of the QF flights are ridiculous. 4am arrival?! EK is bad too, but that's offset by their advantages.
- People will endure a Tiger flight to SIN as it's cheap and not that far.

I think they would like to pull out and give it to JQ but may need to keep 1 flight for codeshare partners. Giving it to MH may also be an option on the table.

 

[cove]

I did send my two sons thru Sydney from Perth to pick up two First Class seats on points to London. We would not do it ourselves as long cuts on long hauls have zero appeal.

 

[here2go]

As has already been suggested, SQ, EY and DJ must rubbing their hands with glee! I suspect we'll see more hardcore courting of DJ by *Alliance and SkyTeam start soon!

 

[mannej]

How long is it for EK into LHR as comparison?

I can see 20-21 hours on QF from PER currently. Doesn't seem too bad

 

[casanovawa]

They can go and get stuffed before i would fly to the East cost to then head to Asia or Europe just for a bit of lounge time...

They are really are becoming the pits if this rumour becomes fact, although as people mention already they are next to no where here anyway...

The lounge at Perth International is fine enough for anyone but the F crowd, hell its only for an hour or so before the flight and most of the sweaty masses would be more than happy to get in there... They have the same minimal food offerings that you will find in most QPs, so just enough to to tide you over to a flight, quite a few tables, showers than plenty of lounges int he US don't have, computers and wifi and some alcohol... And yes the international airport is a bit of shed and hopefully will get much better, but Perth is mainly an end point rather than a transit hub and i have never flown to any end point for how magnificent the airport was... There isn't really any other option for Perth people leaving or visitors arriving until something gets down with it so just need to suck it up till then...

And with all of south east asia, south asia and the middle east and the growing populations and affluence in those areas just off shore, plus same time zones as most of Asia and all its hard to understand why QFi can't make it work, but that must be the $64 question that Joyce and his lot never seem to want to talk about unless they can be nailed down at another lunch sometime... I guess we do have lots of other airlines, both low cost and full service that do seem to think they can make a go of flying into Perth and as I'm not really a status chaser, Qantas can go and kiss the Perth people's proverbial and concentrate on Sydney if that's all they know how to...

QR seems much more appealing to me now anyway, much more direct and a pretty decent airline and Qantas hardly seem worthy of any loyalty...

Hmmm wasn't QR recently talking about making a partnership or alliance with QF anyway, so it might be the way its going to fly their product and all and earn QFF points if that was of any interest...

 

[Per_Travels]

When 1 SIN - PER flight lands at 01h40 and the other 04h40 and QF wonder why the loads are low! Especially the pointy end.

If QF pull out of Perth how am I going to use all my QFF points. Jetstar to Bali Yuk!

In the last few weeks I've done SIN - PER 3 times:

1. QF 00:40 arrival time
2. QF 04:40 arrival time
3. SQ 14:40 arrival time

I'll leave you to guess who is my new best friend for this trip. As I said in my last post - Qantas aren't making it easy to support them in Perth.

 

[browski]

It's interesting how QF is gradually making it harder for those of us in the West to fly with them. When WP1 was introduced I went back and looked over my flying for the last few years and noticed that whilst my typical SC earn has been fairly constant at around 5000/yr the SCs with a magical ~ has been dropping (from 4000 four years ago to 2900 for the year that's just about to end). The major difference being in flights to Asia (China and Korea I now use CX or more recently SQ as I can never seem to find QF flights to fit my schedule). If Qantas stop flying internationally out of Perth then this will likely push all of my UK/Europe travel onto other carriers, probably EK or SQ. It's then only a small step to move my US/Canada/South America travel onto the same carrier to chase a high status level there.

Shame really - I always quite like flying with Qantas

Oh come on, it's not that bad. FFS, you've still got the JetStar dollars program to fall back on.

 

[Standby]

Oh come on, it's not that bad. FFS, you've still got the JetStar dollars program to fall back on.

Nothing like a rumour to get people worked up into a lather. In the past month QF have been linked to both EK and QR.Where there is smoke there's fire. I'm happy to sit and wait before passing judgement without facts.Infact things may end up better than today if these play out with the "partner" airline option as DJ have done a good job with.
They acknowledge the importance of the Resource sector so hard to believe they would pull out internationally.
Also the international terminal is changing under proposed redevelopment.Perhaps QFI is moving to the Dom side as is proposed in Sydney?

 

[browski]

Infact things may end up better than today if these play out with the "partner" airline option as DJ have done a good job with.

Anybody who has had more than a few years experience with the QFF program, knows that that their enhancements never make things better (for the punter)

Anyway, it's only Perth; no biggy. They're technically more in the Asia region than in Australia.......... and we all know that the real wealth of Australia is in Sydney.

 

[ajw373]

I think the sad day was the last QFi flight out of Darwin, given their name - QaNTas

In that case maybe all they should service and Queensland and the NT.

 

[dajop]

A name change coming on for QFi as well to go with this rumoured change? I like Los Angeles, London And Sydney Airways (LALAs Airways)

 

[Jos888]

When 1 SIN - PER flight lands at 01h40 and the other 04h40 and QF wonder why the loads are low! Especially the pointy end.

If QF pull out of Perth how am I going to use all my QFF points. Jetstar to Bali Yuk!

Well as an expat living in Singapore, whose home town is Perth, I'm using up all my points asap. SIA here I come! I'm fed up with Qantas