AIRLINES – AUSTRALIA

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

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

Jetgo eyes fleet boost as services expand

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Original article by Steve Creedy
The Australian – Page: 19 : 8-Oct-14

Paul Bredereck, MD of charter flights group Jetgo, on 7 October 2014 announced that it had gained a new air operator’s certificate from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. The carrier will now offer services on the routes from Sydney to the Queensland destinations of Roma and Gladstone. It will boost its fleet to 10 aircraft, after previously catering to the "fly in, fly out" market in the resources sector

CORPORATES
JETGO PTY LTD, REGIONAL EXPRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX REX, AUSTRALIA. CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY AUTHORITY, REGIONAL EXPRESS AIRLINES, EMPRESA BRASILEIRA DE AERONAUTICA SA

Borghetti urges easing of airport caps

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Original article by Steve Creedy
The Australian – Page: 19 : 7-Oct-14

There is currently an upper limit of 80 take-offs and landings per hour at Sydney Airport, which the Federal Government has said it will not amend. However John Borghetti, CEO of carrier Virgin Australia, says the accompanying cap of 20 movements for each quarter of an hour means that even the figure of 80 is rarely reached. He argues that during normal working hours the total could be boosted to 90 without any adverse impact on residents, and a recent study for the New South Wales and Federal Governments also advocated a lift to 85

CORPORATES
SYDNEY AIRPORT – ASX SYD, VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, TIGER AIRWAYS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Borghetti beats Joyce on pay

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Original article by Steve Creedy
The Australian – Page: 23 : 1-Oct-14

Figures on the remuneration of leading executives at airline Virgin Australia show that CEO John Borghetti was paid a base salary of $A1.67m in 2013-14. This is less than the $A2.05m for Alan Joyce, his counterpart at main rival Qantas Airways. However including incentive awards, Borghetti’s overall package increased 4% year-on-year to reach $A2.78m. The respective underlying losses before tax of Qantas and Virgin for 2013-14 were $A646m and $A212m

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VELOCITY FREQUENT FLYER PTY LTD