Photograph: AirSpace user flcriminal
Qantas's response to increase competition on the trans-Pacific has largely been the unsustainable, and poor for yields, practice of cutting fares. Today, however, the carrier got smart and fired a shot at Delta/V Australia by making structural network changes. From 16 May Qantas will replace its Sydney-San Francisco route with Sydney-Dallas Ft. Worth.
The route will operate directly with a 747-400 on the outbound sector but return via Brisbane due to winds. At 8,578 miles, SYD-DFW will be Qantas's longest route, the longest 747 route in the world, and the third longest route in the world.
DFW is the hub for American Airlines, the sole oneworld member in the USA, and with whom Qantas has codeshared with. Qantas will codeshare with AA to 13 new US destinations and 3 Mexican destinations, bringing Qantas's total codeshares with AA to 51. Qantas is also seeking a larger partnership with AA.
"Qantas and American Airlines intend to deepen their existing relationship and will be seeking regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and other relevant authorities for this expanded commercial relationship," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says in a statement.
The enhancement will involve "coordination of operations between Australia/New Zealand and the United States," Qantas says.
Transferring the SFO flight to DFW gives passengers greater connections, as Qantas has spruiked, but there are are two sets of connotations: passengers and fares.
First is that Qantas hopes the increased connections on AA will help it keep its existing customer base and perhaps sway some customers from United and the Delta/V Australia joint-venture.
Second, Qantas could charge passengers more for having greater connections and a better connection point (more on that later). That would help lift trans-Pacific yields that have sunk since the increase expansion two years ago. Diversifying destination points in America also makes it harder to directly compare fares, which should help airlines ease the fare wars.
The DFW route will be especially important as Delta and V Australia said in their joint-venture application that their planned JV will enable them to open new routes outside of California. The carriers would presumably have used those routes to give them a one-up over Qantas and United only servicing direct from Australia LAX and SFO in the continental US.
More connections will help Qantas against United, who says its network in the US--the largest by far--gives it a key advantage to funnel passengers onto its Pacific flights.
Getting into the nuances of the service, my first comment is that the rumour of the DFW route is almost as old as some Qantas 767s, but was not always pegged to replace SFO. Swapping SFO with DFW, instead of adding DFW and keeping SFO, shows Qantas still sees too much capacity in the Australia-US market. Although Qantas will launch DFW with a four-weekly service, it plans to bring it to a daily service (matching the SFO route) pending the alliance with AA coming into place, Qantas says.
Geography and the abysmal state of service on US carriers also help frame the route. Passengers wanting to travel to America's East Coast are faced with a six-hour flight from Los Angeles on AA, whose service includes no meals, in-flight entertainment, or blankets. Connecting through DFW means those passengers will have a more bearable three-hour US flight.
Keeping passengers on Qantas aircraft for longer is also good for revenue: rather than split revenue with AA on a six-hour connecting codeshare flight from LAX or SFO, Qantas receives more revenue for flying the longer route to DFW before sharing revenue on connecting flights.
There is a tiny loss of dropping SFO, and that is many passengers preferred to connect through there rather than LAX, and pay more to do so. Passengers only travelling on the West Coast will have to contend with LAX, while others now have DFW as a connection point.
It is not yet clear what will happen to Qantas's freight centre at SFO, which was a key purpose for the SFO route. Update: A Qantas spokesman says, "Our freight presence in SFO has not been discussed in the context of the DFW / AA announcement."
Update: The spokesman says, "We use a contracted ground handling agent for belly freight carried on QF73/74, but obviously that arrangement will cease as of 14 May. LAX will remain our main freight port in the USA."
Qantas's response to increase competition on the trans-Pacific has largely been the unsustainable, and poor for yields, practice of cutting fares. Today, however, the carrier got smart and fired a shot at Delta/V Australia by making structural network changes. From 16 May Qantas will replace its Sydney-San Francisco route with Sydney-Dallas Ft. Worth.
The route will operate directly with a 747-400 on the outbound sector but return via Brisbane due to winds. At 8,578 miles, SYD-DFW will be Qantas's longest route, the longest 747 route in the world, and the third longest route in the world.
DFW is the hub for American Airlines, the sole oneworld member in the USA, and with whom Qantas has codeshared with. Qantas will codeshare with AA to 13 new US destinations and 3 Mexican destinations, bringing Qantas's total codeshares with AA to 51. Qantas is also seeking a larger partnership with AA.
"Qantas and American Airlines intend to deepen their existing relationship and will be seeking regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and other relevant authorities for this expanded commercial relationship," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says in a statement.
The enhancement will involve "coordination of operations between Australia/New Zealand and the United States," Qantas says.
Transferring the SFO flight to DFW gives passengers greater connections, as Qantas has spruiked, but there are are two sets of connotations: passengers and fares.
First is that Qantas hopes the increased connections on AA will help it keep its existing customer base and perhaps sway some customers from United and the Delta/V Australia joint-venture.
Second, Qantas could charge passengers more for having greater connections and a better connection point (more on that later). That would help lift trans-Pacific yields that have sunk since the increase expansion two years ago. Diversifying destination points in America also makes it harder to directly compare fares, which should help airlines ease the fare wars.
The DFW route will be especially important as Delta and V Australia said in their joint-venture application that their planned JV will enable them to open new routes outside of California. The carriers would presumably have used those routes to give them a one-up over Qantas and United only servicing direct from Australia LAX and SFO in the continental US.
More connections will help Qantas against United, who says its network in the US--the largest by far--gives it a key advantage to funnel passengers onto its Pacific flights.
Getting into the nuances of the service, my first comment is that the rumour of the DFW route is almost as old as some Qantas 767s, but was not always pegged to replace SFO. Swapping SFO with DFW, instead of adding DFW and keeping SFO, shows Qantas still sees too much capacity in the Australia-US market. Although Qantas will launch DFW with a four-weekly service, it plans to bring it to a daily service (matching the SFO route) pending the alliance with AA coming into place, Qantas says.
Geography and the abysmal state of service on US carriers also help frame the route. Passengers wanting to travel to America's East Coast are faced with a six-hour flight from Los Angeles on AA, whose service includes no meals, in-flight entertainment, or blankets. Connecting through DFW means those passengers will have a more bearable three-hour US flight.
Keeping passengers on Qantas aircraft for longer is also good for revenue: rather than split revenue with AA on a six-hour connecting codeshare flight from LAX or SFO, Qantas receives more revenue for flying the longer route to DFW before sharing revenue on connecting flights.
There is a tiny loss of dropping SFO, and that is many passengers preferred to connect through there rather than LAX, and pay more to do so. Passengers only travelling on the West Coast will have to contend with LAX, while others now have DFW as a connection point.
It is not yet clear what will happen to Qantas's freight centre at SFO, which was a key purpose for the SFO route. Update: A Qantas spokesman says, "Our freight presence in SFO has not been discussed in the context of the DFW / AA announcement."
Update: The spokesman says, "We use a contracted ground handling agent for belly freight carried on QF73/74, but obviously that arrangement will cease as of 14 May. LAX will remain our main freight port in the USA."
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