I49 Air and Space Transport

Qantas pressed to drop fuel surcharge as Virgin makes first move

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 23-Jan-15

Virgin Australia is to remove the fuel surcharge from its US flights and instead make the charge part of the base fare. The drop in the crude oil price has prompted the carrier to reduce fares to Los Angeles from Melbourne and Sydney. It is more complicated for Qantas Airways to dismantle fuel surcharges than it is for Virgin. A Qantas official maintains that its existing fares are already "some of the cheapest in years". Macquarie Equities’ Sam Dobson says Virgin’s decision makes Qantas "increasingly likely" to act on fuel surcharges

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, EMIRATES AIRLINES, MACQUARIE EQUITIES LIMITED, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Qantas workers to vote on EBA

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Original article by Steve Creedy
The Australian – Page: 17 : 14-Jan-15

Qantas Airways has informed the market that a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) has been approved by 130 staff after negotiations with the United Voice union. A majority of 61% voted for the deal, which includes a moratorium on wage rises for 1.5 years. However a far larger number of employees, represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), will vote on their EBA in February 2015. The TWU has been very vocal in the past in its criticism of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, but has agreed to a similar wage freeze to be followed by increases of 3% per annum

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION, UNITED VOICE

Scale of Qantas turnaround catches Joyce by surprise

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Original article by Steve Creedy
The Australian – Page: 20 : 10-Dec-14

Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas Airways, admits that he and his management team had not expected their cost-cutting strategy to bear fruit so rapidly. He has been able to forecast a 2014-15 interim underlying profit pre-tax of up to $A350m, after the previous loss. The carrier’s stock on 9 December closed $A0.01 lower at $A2.38, but had gained nearly 14% the day before when the news was released. Meanwhile independent senator Nick Xenophon wants the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to look into whether Qantas’s refusal to lower its fuel surcharge despite a falling crude oil price constitutes misleading and deceptive conduct

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, BOEING COMPANY, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AIRBUS SAS, NICK XENOPHON GROUP

Qantas on course for profit of $350m

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 9-Dec-14

Qantas expects its 2014-15 interim underlying net profit to be within the range of $A300m to $A350m, compared with a loss of $A252m previously. Deutsche Bank has responded by upgrading its full-year forecast from $A364m to $A801.5m. Qantas has benefited from factors such as its $A2bn cost-cutting initiative and lower fuel costs. Reducing debt remains the priority, although CEO Alan Joyce says the carrier could potentially resume paying dividends earlier than forecast

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH

Qantas should keep fuel surcharge despite oil price fall

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 4-Dec-14

The crude oil price has fallen from $US109 a barrel to just $US72 since Qantas increased the fuel surcharge on its international airfares in July 2014. Matt Crowe of the Commonwealth Bank believes that the carrier should leave the surcharge unchanged for now, noting that it generates 8-12 per cent of its annual revenue and offsets its overall fuel costs by just 27 per cent. Flight Centre MD Graham Turner recently urged airlines to abolish the surcharge

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, EMIRATES AIRLINES

Qantas Haneda access will increase capacity to Japan

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 28-Nov-14

Qantas will commence daily flights to the Japanese airports of Narita and Haneda from August 2015, after the carrier was given access to the latter. Qantas will offer more flights to Japan as a result, and Peter Harbison of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation expects services to Haneda to focus on premium business travellers as the airport is much closer to the Tokyo CBD. The Australian tourism industry is also expected to benefit

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, CENTRE FOR ASIA PACIFIC AVIATION, TTF AUSTRALIA LIMITED TOURISM AND TRANSPORT FORUM, TTF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, JETSTAR JAPAN, JAPAN AIRLINES COMPANY LIMITED, KOREAN AIR LINES COMPANY LIMITED, CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS LIMITED, SINGAPORE AIRLINES LIMITED, JETSTAR AIRLINES PTY LTD, AIR NEW ZEALAND LIMITED – ASX AIZ

Flying Kangaroo bounces back as oil prices tumble

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Original article by Michael Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 17-Nov-14

Qantas CFO Gareth Evans says a "transformation" program to result in cost savings of $A600m in 2014. He says this will be the main factor in the carrier’s return to profits, rather than the recent downturn in the price of oil. Qantas expects to gain just $A20m from lower fuel costs in the first half of 2014-15, although some analysts have suggested that this could top $A292m. Evans has also downplayed speculation about a dividend payment, saying its focus is reducing debt and becoming cash-flow positive

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, BOEING COMPANY

Qantas keeps up by putting on a show

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 7-Nov-14

Olivia Wirth, head of branding and corporate affairs at Qantas Airways, has announced that the carrier will progressively replace the seats on its aircraft with ones that feature a new in-flight entertainment system. It offers touch screen controls and a greater range of content, and supplements the on-board Wi-Fi technology that allows passengers to use their own mobile devices. The size of the seatback screens will also grow, to as much as 16 inches in business class. Similar systems are offered by rival Virgin Australia

CORPORATES
QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, SKY NEWS, AUSTRALIAN NEWS CHANNEL PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AIRBUS SAS, BOEING COMPANY, EMPRESA BRASILEIRA DE AERONAUTICA SA

Virgin gears up for international push

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 20-Oct-14

Virgin Australia Holdings will acquire full ownership of Tigerair, and Virgin CEO John Borghetti has not ruled out international flights for the budget offshoot. Tigerair currently operates a fleet of Airbus A320s, which Borghetti says could be used on shorter international routes. He also says other aircraft models could be added to Tigerair’s fleet, but says divesting the A320s is not on the agenda

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, TIGER AIRWAYS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AIRBUS SAS, BOEING COMPANY, JETSTAR AIRLINES PTY LTD, TIGER AVIATION PTE LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, AUSTRALIA. CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY AUTHORITY, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AFFINITY EQUITY PARTNERS (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

Virgin moves to quarterly reports

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Original article by Jamie Freed
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 10-Oct-14

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has a 22.2 holding in Virgin Australia, which means CEO Goh Choon Phong was in mid-2014 appointed a director of the latter carrier and SIA now needs quarterly data from Virgin for its own equity accounting. However while Virgin is switching to quarterly reports as a result, it appears to have abandoned the monthly issuing of traffic data that is common for airlines including main rival Qantas Airways. Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon also sits on the Virgin board as his business has a 25.9% stake

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, AIR NEW ZEALAND LIMITED – ASX AIZ, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, SINGAPORE AIRLINES LIMITED, ETIHAD AIRWAYS, TIGER AIRWAYS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, AIR BERLIN PLC AND COMPANY LUFTVERKEHRS KG, AIR SERBIA, AIR SEYCHELLES, JET AIRWAYS, DARWIN AIRLINE, MALAYSIAN AIRLINE SYSTEMS, CAPA CONSULTING, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT, 4TH DIMENSION