Qantas adds Brisbane-Manila but suspends Sydney-Shanghai flights

[tomlee1986]

Came across this little piece of reporting. From this, it seems QF has company in reducing frequencies to the mainland China.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/foreign-airlines-lose-interest-china-domestic-carriers-expand-abroad-2024-08-09/

Even the same with another OneWorld Member in BA - this also proves China is so poor that the demand is NOT there!

 

[eastwest101]

Even the same with another OneWorld Member in BA - this also proves China is so poor that the demand is NOT there!

Plus the effective closure of Russian airspace to some airlines and the situations in Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon etc have reduced options for some airlines or made alternative routings uneconomic.

 

[Daver6]

Even the same with another OneWorld Member in BA - this also proves China is so poor that the demand is NOT there!

I think the reason for BA's decision is a little different. Their flights are a lot longer than the Chinese carriers as they can fly over Russian airspace. So they can't be price competitive.

 

[tomlee1986]

I think the reason for BA's decision is a little different. Their flights are a lot longer than the Chinese carriers as they can fly over Russian airspace. So they can't be price competitive.

They did say it is russian air space issue as well, but also I see the chinese demand is NOT there

 

[Melburnian1]

Yeah - as the article says the "unfortunate timings" of the flight are really an aircraft availability issue of Qantas not having enough A330s and the duplication of the SYD-SIN flight times is again, not enough right sized aircraft, and the SYD curfew coming into play.

I'm assuming that PR has also struggled to recover from the Covid-era which has resulted in less capacity? If the Philippine Government ever got its s$%t together and rebuilt MNL airport as a decent hub, they would be ideally placed to compete with SIN and KUL as a worlwide hub and a gateway to the growing Philippine economy.

A consortium of a few companies has just been awarded a concession to improve MNL airport.

I don't know exactly what is proposed but the group has some of the largest Filipino companies so hopefully, eventually, some good comes out of it.

Philippine Airlines has had problems with the engines on A333s (as have other airlines) so that's why it has entered into a contract with Spain's Wamos Air to deliver A332s on the MNL-MEL and MNL-SYD routes for months, recently extended into 2025.

By the way, MNL airport's T1 that now plays host to all of PR's international flights is actually quite good. Immigration is faster than backward Australia and so often is the speed at which luggage comes off the carousel.

You are correct about the growing Filipino economy: about six per cent this year is the expected growth. Compare that to Australia's measly one per cent if we're lucky. Of course, Philippines starts from a much lower base as while it has some minerals, it's not to the extent of Australia's iron ore and coking/steaming coal deposits, but the Philippines has grown fast in recent years and continues to do so.

 

[Melburnian1]

I really hope Qantas or another airline starts considering flights between Australia and CEB or CRK which are both extremely better airports than MNL.

Whenever I fly CX/SQ to Cebu at least, there's always a large number of passengers connecting from Australia.

The Visayas and to a lesser extent Mindanao have substantial populations, and constantly growing tourism especially to the former (including Boracay), but are poorly served by international airlines with the exception of excellent frequencies to and from South Korea.

Years ago Philippine Airlines had an intermediate stop at Mactan Airport, Cebu for one of its MEL/SYD flights - only in the northbound direction IIRC - but that's long been ditched.

Like Indonesia's Jakarta, Metro Manila is a magnet for locals seeking employment but it's far from the case that every Filipino lives in MM or indeed on its island of Luzon.

AFAIK, Qantas has never served Cebu (or Clark airport north of Manila).

 

[Sprucegoose]

The Visayas and to a lesser extent Mindanao have substantial populations, and constantly growing tourism especially to the former (including Boracay), but are poorly served by international airlines with the exception of excellent frequencies to and from South Korea.

Years ago Philippine Airlines had an intermediate stop at Mactan Airport, Cebu for one of its MEL/SYD flights - only in the northbound direction IIRC - but that's long been ditched.

Like Indonesia's Jakarta, Metro Manila is a magnet for locals seeking employment but it's far from the case that every Filipino lives in MM or indeed on its island of Luzon.

AFAIK, Qantas has never served Cebu (or Clark airport north of Manila).

There are flights ex ILO to HKG and SIN.