The Beginning of the End of Qantas

[alwoodsy]

For some time now I have held the belief that Qantas will slowly, but surely drift off into oblivion with Jetstar becoming the dominant Australian carrier. With a much different operating model and the ability to compete with other budget carriers I see it as a matter of time before we see the flying kagaroo fly no longer. Any thoughts?

 

[Blackadder]

Quite simply no, there is still demand for travel to the US/Europe etc something that I can not see JQ being able to fill.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

As long as there is demand for higher-service at a higher-cost, then QANTAS will keep flying. I don't see senior business executives, lawyers, politicians etc flying on Jetstar to Europe or the US...

 

[Saab34]

Not a hope in hell Jetstar could make money if it flew alot of current Qantas routes. They would lose piles of pax to competitors and long haul LCC's have always been doubted for their profitability. Even SQ recently mentioned AirAsia X and their chances of ever reaching sustainable profitability were questionable. Actually I remember the D7 said that profits would be alot smaller to London than anywhere else.

 

[johnny28]

I certainly agree that this could become a reality, particularly on the domestic side of things. My son who is 6' 5" has already vowed not to fly with Jetstar again because of cramped conditions. I have already thought of the Australian domestic flights being on a downward slippery slope service wise.
Trying to get from Perth to Tasmania for example is a bit of a nightmare; this turns ones thoughts to Asia with other international carriers. I believe we need a decent domestic service in Australia that can entice more people to fly between States for pleasure and improve the tourism economy for our own people and the country.

 

[Dave Noble]

As long as there is demand for higher-service at a higher-cost, then QANTAS will keep flying. I don't see senior business executives, lawyers, politicians etc flying on Jetstar to Europe or the US...

There are plenty of other airlines that fly to Europe other than Qantas and Jetstar

Dave

 

[Dave Noble]

I certainly agree that this could become a reality, particularly on the domestic side of things. My son who is 6' 5" has already vowed not to fly with Jetstar again because of cramped conditions.

I am surprised. One of the benefits of jetstar is that they offer exit row pre-selection for a decent price which is great when tall

Dave

 

[MrGreg]

I believe jetstar will continue to increase its market share, and Qantas will become smaller, especially on domestic routes. Qantas may change is business structure and target markets, but it will always remain dominant over jetstar.

 

[Slats7]

Qantas isn't going anywhere!

 

[alwoodsy]

For some time now I have held the belief that Qantas will slowly, but surely drift off into oblivion with Jetstar becoming the dominant Australian carrier. With a much different operating model and the ability to compete with other budget carriers I see it as a matter of time before we see the flying kagaroo fly no longer. Any thoughts?

Well this has stirred up some feelings!
I guess the bottom line is that the Qantas company (not the airline) will do whatever is necessary to return shareholder value. The culture and heart of the company disappeared once James Strong took over. How many original facets of the company are now outsourced?

 

[joeymelb]

Qantas isn't going anywhere!

Well said! Qantas is grounded!

I am a frequent traveler to South East Asia. The services by Qantas out of Melbourne is just appalling. One of my most recent QF J trip to Perth was substandard, it costed as much as SQ MEL-SIN J.

Yes, politicians, lawyers and execs will not fly JQ, DJ or AirAsiaX for long haul. But for true premium class travel out of Australia, we have Etihad, Emirates, Singapore and Malaysian competing with increasing services and flights out of non-Sydney airports combined with superior connections to various global destinations.

Lastly, decreasing J and removing F from cabins, Qantas effectively broadcasting that it is going down JQ route rather than trying to be premium service provider.

Could Qantas turns itself around before it flies into the history book to join Pan Am??

 

[Slats7]

Qantas will be fine, just give them some time

 

[winfred]

Qantas will always be around, on international routes at least. Jetstar may get bigger but demand for premium service will increase when the economy picks up.

 

[Justinf]

It's a good question and one that is worthy of some thought.
I can see Jetstar incresing it's domestic capacity by quite a lot. Qantas won't 'go out of business' so to speak and there will be enough demand to satisfy capacity. But the fact that Qantas is slashing its 1st class capacity on the A380s should serve as a sign of things to come.

 

[Nigelinoz]

I'm sure there are many people who would like to see the back of Qantas including possibly the CEO's of rival airlines like Virgin Blue domestically and
Singapore Airlines on the international front but the reality is that Qantas has been around a long time,despite some high profile incidents over the last few years it has a safety record that many other airlines would pay anything to have,it has a special place in the hearts of many Australians and even in the depths of a global recession is still making a profit,albeit a reduced one.
Qantas is not perfect,far from it but when compared to airlines like British Airways it is still one of the worlds leading airlines IMO.
There may be an increase in Jetstar domestic operations on routes currently served by QF mainline but Qantas as a company will be around
for a long long time to come,I am confident of that.

 

[JohnK]

Qantas will still be around for a long time.

There are serious question marks how long Jetstar can last. Have any of it's international routes been a success? How many international routes has Jetstar stopped flying? How many more chances does Jetstar get to fail?

I am a frequent traveler to South East Asia. The services by Qantas out of Melbourne is just appalling.

Not much better scheduling out of Sydney either. Sure a couple of flights a day to SIN and a flight a day to BKK but the timing is terrible for connecting to other SE Asian cities and forces one to overnight.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

I guess it doesn't help that the head of JQ is now the head of Qantas...

However Qantas is too big a brand to simply let slip away...but no doubt the structure of the company will continue to change with JQ doing more and more of the 'heavy lifting' both domestically and internationally...with QF becoming a more boutique airline and parent company.

Having said that how many amazing reviews of product and service do QF get here compared to the competition.

 

[Mal]

This sort of discussion has occurred many times over the last few years since Jetstar first arrived. While Jetstardisation of the network has occured to some extent, Qantas is still the flagship carrier in the group, and has remained flying to many of their destinations.

I think you will continue seeing the Red Tail as a very common sight at *most* Australian and major International airports.

 

[777]

I've switched 95% of my flying to DJ and couldn't be happier. The main reason is that Qantas abandoned me. I travel a lot (gold on DJ - nearly double gold last year and will qualify again 2/3 of the way through this year) but about half my travel is MEL-NTL and Qantas have abandoned the route to Jetstar.

Ironically, on the route i fly the most DJ is the premium carrier. With DJ i get FF points, i get FF perks and i'm not treated like cattle. I can turn up 20 mins before my flight and still get on it. I get those benefits anywhere on the network and not just the "premium carrier" ports. With jetstar it's a nightmare trying to fly, you almost always earn no points, and they work their planes so hard that i've had many delays over 4 hours. Can honesly say that i've never been delayed more than hour or two with DJ and fly them ten times as much.

If you're like me flying QF just doesn't make sense - despite the fact the other half of my travel is between capitals and probably 10% of it would be business class (P/E on DJ) i can't justify splitting my spend/ points/ status across two carriers.

That's the danger for Qantas. More JQ means less loyalty. On the upside, DJ are improving their product. I now have Gold status with Delta and Virgin Atlantic - not yet a rival to QF but enough to get me to Europe and the states where i tend to go once a year, i can earn and burn on a reasonably wide range of airlines, etc.

My prediction is that i won't be the last to switch away from Qantas as they abandon more and more routes to JQ. DJ are improving their product and QF are diluting theirs - the "air bondi" announcements and cough are noticably fewer and far between. We'll see what happens, but Qantas can't cut forever without consequences.

777.

 

[dajop]

Qantas will still be around for a long time.

There are serious question marks how long Jetstar can last. Have any of it's international routes been a success?

Depends on whether you consider trans-tasman (and Bali) routes international? I am sure CHC & DPS routes have been quite successful.

I can't believe there are "serious questions" around how long Jetstar can last. Maybe their A330 operations, but I think domestically they're probably doing more than OK, and will be there for some time to come.