Virgin Australia overtakes Qantas as largest domestic carrier

[OATEK]

As with most newspaper headlines, they are not there to inform, but to attract readers.

There is no doubt that having strong and sustainable competition domestically is in everyone's best interests regardless of loyalty considerations. The graph above shows a consistent picture with seasonal variations, but as long as both QF and JQ are unchallenged in the LCC sector, their market dominance will remain.

We have a family wedding in Melbourne this weekend, and some participants automatically select JQ because they fly them most often (to Bali and Gold Coast/Tweed). Four of us chose VA, 2 to consume some points, and the other 2 on price. These sorts of calculations are made daily by pax all over Australia, but the big picture remains with QF/JQ consistently on 60%+ market share.

 

[jase05]

JQ has the added bonus of moving substantial freight around which does mean at times that freight will take priority over passengers and loads can be lighter to accommodate the freight

 

[p--and--t]

And the bottom line is really revenue.

Dun matter if you have wonderful capacity, and are filling that capacity. It’s more wonderful if you’re making the $$$.

I think Qf is making the $$.

You beat me to it. For the airlines it's $$$ profit, not bums on seats.

 

[HS-TQE]

A full plane on any airline doesn't guarantee profit and/or success. "It's all about the yields", a full plane on mostly discount (low yielding) fares, as Bonza found out, is still a money loser.