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As you are all probably aware Jetstar, Qantas new
low-cost carrier, are now taking bookings and their 1st flight is
scheduled for 25 May.
Chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline's website received more than 5.5 million hits since it went live at 2pm on Wednesday February 25.
"More than 94 per cent of the seats have been sold via the jetstar.com.au website," Joyce said. "We've had an unbelievable response to our special 100,000 $29.00 fare offer and our Jetstar Jet Saver fares.�
Never missing an opportunity for a bit of cheap
publicity, Virgin Blue immediately "raised Qantas to 200,000" by
offering 200,000 $29 fares. May the price war continue...
Jetstar plan to capture one third of the Australian
domestic market.
Inspite of falling revenue (when compared to the
corresponding period the previous year), Qantas has reported a net profit of $357.8 million for the six months to 31 December 2003. CEO Geoff Dixon said strong domestic demand - fuelled by the rationalised fare structure - as well as a swift bounce-back in international travel following SARS, had driven the result.
Other primary drivers are improved efficiency from cost-reduction initiatives and the introduction of new aircraft.
And the good news flows on to travel.com.au. The
online travel agent reported a $9,000 profit (well, at least its not a
loss) profit for the six months to December 31 last year. This is
its 1st reported profit since its public listing in 1999 and compares with a loss of $5.84 million in the corresponding half-year in 2002.
Qantas plans to operate the first ever non-stop scheduled services between Brisbane and Los Angeles from June 14. CEO Geoff Dixon said the airline would introduce three B747-400 non-stop Brisbane-Los Angeles flights a week. The two-class services would operate on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The new services will be in addition to Qantas daily
flights from Brisbane to Los Angeles via Auckland, taking the number of
services on the route to 10 per week.
Pacific Blue, Virgin Blue's international carrier, plans to
fly to Fiji and Vanuatu from September this year.
The proposed service is still subject to regulatory approvals.
Pacific Blue commenced operations in January this year
with a trans-Tasman service.
Qantas will boost capacity to six Western Australia destinations, adding 700 seats each week from February 23 and a further 1,000 seats from March 28 by using larger aircraft.
The carrier's executive general manager, John Borghetti,
said this latest increase in capacity followed a series of other Qantas
initiatives in Western Australia, including weekly Perth-Kununurra
services from May 1 and non-stop services from Perth to Canberra and
Cairns which began earlier this month. "From next month, we plan to add
800 seats each week on our routes between Broome and Alice Springs,
Sydney and Melbourne," he added.
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