Flying between Sydney and Melbourne is generating more revenue than any other route in the world – almost double the level before the COVID-19 pandemic – despite a fall in the number of passengers travelling.
The route generated revenue of $US1.21 billion ($1.9 billion) in the first six months of this year, surpassing that from flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy airport and London’s Heathrow. That route was the most revenue-rich, followed by travel between Los Angeles and New York, in 2019.
In the first half of that year, before the pandemic, airlines generated $US611.5 million flying between Sydney and Melbourne, according to OAG, a data provider which is widely regarded as an industry standard. That would mean a 97 per cent rise in revenues between 2019 and 2023, despite a fall in passenger numbers of about 11 per cent between those periods.
Pissing off the Canberra bubble residents is not a wise moveNew Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson has been accused of failing to live up to her promise to eliminate poor customer service, as flight cancellations continue on Australia’s most important business routes.
On-time performance data released this week showed 47 flights were cancelled by Qantas on Canberra-Sydney in October, or 10.1 per cent of flights.
Only Melbourne-Sydney fared worse, with 111 flight cancellations by Qantas in the month, or 12.1 per cent of services, amid ongoing accusations of slot hoarding by the airline.
The results were not isolated to October, with an average of 50 flights a month cancelled by Qantas on Canberra-Sydney since February.
In contrast, Virgin Australia scrapped an average of 10 flights a month on the route, a cancellation rate of around 4 per cent.
Canberra Airport CEO Stephen Byron said Qantas did not seem to be concerned about passengers flying between Australia’s capital and Sydney, and had not taken any effective steps to rectify the problem.
He said there was an “extremely poor level of reliability” on the route and passenger volumes had failed to recover from the pandemic. They remained 40 per cent below pre-Covid levels while other routes exceeded 2019 volumes.
“I would dream to have Adelaide’s cancellation rate, at 1.6 per cent,” Mr Byron said.
“I would even be delighted to have a rate of reliability commensurate with Albury (2.8 per cent).”
Ms Hudson promised to address customer pain points in September when she took over from Alan Joyce.
“The change in Qantas CEO has resulted in no change to customers having their flights cancelled between Canberra and Sydney,” Mr Byron said.
“Ms Hudson said ‘judge me on my actions’. Well, there has been no action or improvement. Essentially the same executive team at Qantas is delivering the same appalling service to customers.”
Funny how the other airlines do not seem to have the same issues to such an extent.He suggested Qantas scheduling flights to Sydney a mere 10 to 15 minutes apart, and then cancelling 10 per cent of services, was designed to maintain their slots at Australia’s biggest gateway.
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert has also accused Qantas of “over-filing for slots” and then cancelling multiple flights, to keep other airlines out of the gateway, or limit their access.
Slots are the time windows allocated to airlines in which to operate flights, with limited numbers available at Sydney Airport due to the hourly flight cap and evening curfew.
Qantas has consistently rejected claims of slot hoarding, insisting it intended to operate every flight as scheduled but was at the mercy of weather, air traffic control restrictions, crew availability and technical issues.
No. I think in the U.S (not sure if all airports) there's a rule in place that says they have to use a slot if they book it precisely because of this problem.Am I being too cynical?
Not by half Mick. The bad smell/apple is still there just a different CEOSeems that QAN just don't seem to get it.
After denying in Court and in front of senate estimates that it deliberately cancels flights to try to book other airlines out of slots, another player has come out and accused them of doing just that.
From Evil Murdoch Press
Pissing off the Canberra bubble residents is not a wise move
Funny how the other airlines do not seem to have the same issues to such an extent.
Am I being too cynical?
Mick.
Classic case of how to keep the travelling public happy. Brings to mind the Yellow pages ad of yesteryear "Not Happy, Jan".Clearly not the sort of customer Qantas would prefer.
Negligent or criminal?
Incompetence either way. Corporate theft.
Aussie woman out of pocket $1000 accuses Qantas of 'dirty tricks'
More than $6000 was charged to her credit card instead of her Qantas Pass – and that was just the beginning.au.news.yahoo.com
Does Qantas have any of these Boeing planes that've been grounded in the US?
Wrong link on that second post there, my apologies.How scummy can you get qantas?
I'd rather walk than ever use them again. Train, coach, boat, car, albatross... anything but qantass
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