[EU_Flyer]

C’mon fellas…. if they’d put everyone in F and J where would the 70 Australian Olympic Committee delegates have sat????!

Oh and their wives too.

I’m surprised the athletes even made it into the plane!

[coopster]

Qantas is in a very bad place at least as an international carrier. This has been on the cards for years, and has now become a reality. Much of this is due to very poor management and decisions made in the past especially in relation to international fleet orders and expansion of its international network

It became a very arrogant airline especially once Ansett went bankrupt and took it for granted that its flagship international routes like London and the US would continue to be cash cows without paying attention to what the competition was doing and how they were expanding. Instead they focused on how much money they could make domestically especially on mining routes

As already pointed out they are not a hub airline so therefore carry minimal international connecting traffic and rely primarily on the Australian corporate market to fill their premium seats. This is a very resilient market but is limited in size and growth ability due to the countries small population

They have a very small international network flying to less than 20 cities with their own aircraft excluding NZ. They do have very poor scheduling as already outlined with LHR flights, and terrible aircraft utilisation.

Every day of the week at least 6 longhaul aircraft sit at LHR FRA LAX NRT and DFW in excess of 12 hours doing nothing, let alone the aircraft that sit on the tarmac at Syd and Mel for hours everyday. Much of this is due to schedule limitations and distances they have to fly etc – but it is a big cost to QF

They position themselves as a major international carrier when in fact they are a niche international carrier, the JSA with BA is still in place – but not working as effectively as it could , again due to QF arrogance and they virtually dont talk to CX who should be their prime partner for China, North Asia and Europe

All airlines have been hit by increased fuel costs, and weakened and instability in prime business economies, but these have been issues since 9/11, so they attribute to QF’s problems but they are not unique.

In fact with such a strong domestic economy and a majority of its travel being the Australian domestic market – QF should be in a far stronger position than it is.

It has to make some very crucial and harsh decisions in terms of its direction especially in relation to international travel. It cannot compete with the Asian, Chinese and Middle Eastern carriers and if the US carriers started to place a lot more focus on Australia they would struggle to compete with that

It would appear they will be making Jetstar their prime international carrier, with QF possibly flying to key business cities that must have a full premium/service offering

It will be interesting to see which way they go and what sort of international carrier they become – or if they even remain an international carrier.

[BigDog.]

An interesting, astute, erudite post
I doff my cap to you Coopster.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

PaulR – I love it how people blame QF for things they aren’t responsible for!

EVERY Olympics, the Australian Olympic Committee charters a QF jet to take our team to the host city. The Australian Olympic Committee determines the seat allocations.

EVERY Olympics, on the return journey, the Olympic Committee organises to have Gold medallists sit in F or J, Silver in J or W (and Bronze in J and W, if there are still seats available). This is a well publicised tradition in Australia; in fact, some of the athletes make a point of telling the media before they go to the Games that they hope they win a Gold medal so they can sit in F on the way home!

So what happened this year is exactly what has happened for at least the last 28 years; and the seating allocation on the charter flight is determined by the AOC as the charterer of the aircraft; it is NOT determined by QF.

[BigDog.]

EVERY – Even the Olympics in 2000?

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Binman – I suppose I’m pleased to see your relentless negativity is not just directed at QF – you clearly are very anti-Australian in general. Please stay in the UK.

[Alasdair]

First of all, Australia did extremely well at London 2012 with a total of 35 medals compared to GB’s 65 having about a third the population.

Now back to Qantas. They offer a fabulous product out classing the likes of BA in many ways, of which food/wine, entertainment, and cabin interiors are only a few. However, it is glaringly obvious that they do not take advantage of opportunities in expanding their network regionally. They are very staid and don’t seem to take risks. This has cost them through lack of presence in many markets & now they are more or less minnows.

But of all the carriers I have flown recently they stand out as competitively superior across buiness & economy (never flown first).

[Binman62]

JohnPhelanAustralia……not a bit anti Australian me…….Been there more often than I can now remember. and will return again in the not to distant future.

What is remarkable is that a bit of joshing about what was widely recognised in both Australia and abroad as a poor showing by the Aussie Olympic Team has merited the response you made.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/08/07/australian-athletes-have-not-been-up-to-it/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/swimming/19149101

[BigDog.]

.. a Bedisloe whitewash isn’t much of a fillp either.

[AMcWhirter]

Hi Alasdair – You say that Qantas hasn’t expanded its regional network.

In fact Qantas had a much larger regional and worldwide network than today. But it’s been slimmed down over the years.

Look at this route map of 1973 to see how many more global cities, especially in the Middle East and Europe, Qantas used to serve compared with today.

Of course, China doesn’t appear as it was a ‘closed’ country in 1973 while South Korea wasn’t the economic giant it is today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caribb/5408775461/

[capetonianm]

Whilst we all know that the trading environment for airlines becomes increasingly each year, the issue of the poor a/c utilisation at the end of its long routes by QF is only used as a red herring. Many other airlines face similar situations, such as SA and BA on the GB – SA routes, where they have, in the case of BA, up to 5 aircraft a day sitting in JNB and CPT for 12 hours before turning round.

BA have been able to make the route pay by better marketing and yield management, SA have been losing money for years on the JNB LON route due to nepotistic practices resulting in low yields, and have now cancelled the CPT LON route as it lost even more money.

QF’s problem is the business culture coming from the top.

[LuganoPirate]

I was going to make the same comment as Capetonian, but he beat me to it. KLM is the only airline, apart from a seasonal service from Edelweiss that operates a day service down to CPT, returning the same evening. BA I believe has a day service back to London. No one has a day service to JNB (that I know of).

The reason for this, and I think this applies to QF and BA on the LHR – SYD route is airport night restrictions. I believe if they took of earlier in either direction they would arrive too late to land.

The other reason, like the JNB route, is SWISS et al rely on feeder traffic in and out. If you arrive back in Europe at 2230 there are virtually no onward connections. While QF has less feeder traffic, nonetheless there is some and this must also be a consideration since for transit pax there are visa issues and the cost of an overnight.

[feijitong]

I’m with Binman on negativity towards Qantas. I once was a loyal Qantas Platinum frequent flyer/lifetime QC club member who bought premium tickets and have despaired as everything has become so bad. In terms of Qantas staying in OneWorld, Star Alliance eliminated Varig for service standards and what Varig declined to is in my view not as bad as what Qantas has declined to. If you write to “customer service” about a complaint repeatedly, you should get an answer from a One World airline. There are certain minimum standards and Qantas deserves to lose money and no longer deserves to be part of OW.

[feijitong]

I used to go to Australia quite a bit and now avoid it because of Qantas. Even if I fly with a competing carrier, I am somehow helping Qantas stay in business and they do not belong in business. I love Australia and the people. Qantas has become a disgrace.

[austline]

What a lot of rubbish. Qantas does not belong in OW and then to compare them to Varig, get real!
Qantas are a premium carrier and stack up in service both on the ground and in the air with the best.
Just look at things like the lounges, domestic flights, long haul with flat beds, without doubt the best catering and wines offered by any carrier operating international services into or out of Australia. A comprehensive domestic service which when compared to other countries domestic air services there is no contest.
I am a Platinum QFF and have been for years, and I have always been looked after both on the ground and in the air. As most of my flying is to West Africa I was using EK but stopped as I could not handle the poor service in J, the J lounge in DXB and the poor ground service. All smoke and mirrors!
Believe me it is a pleaser to get on BA in LOS, ABV or ACC and QF in LHR or Fra on my way home to Aust.
I personally hope QF does not go down the road of joining up with EK as this could be a big mistake.
Like many I do have some concerns about QF management but they are still great airline to fly with.

[Author]

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