Qantas growing international market share as competition falls away

Qantas is growing international market share as competition for flights to Australia drops off.

Qantas is pulling away from its competition for inbound flights. Picture: Getty Images

A reduction in capacity by foreign airlines flying to Australia has delivered Qantas a sizeable boost in market share.

The latest international airline activity report by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics revealed Qantas carried 18.2 per cent of all travellers in and out of the country in March, up from 16.9 per cent the same time last year.

The figure represented the largest market share recorded by Qantas since May 2012, when Jetstar’s share was 7.9 per cent, and Virgin Australia had 8.9 per cent of international passengers.

In March, Jetstar held 9 per cent of the market, and Virgin Australia 6.7 per cent.

Qantas’s powerhouse performance follows the launch of non-stop Perth-London services last year, and the airlines’ gradual replacement of Boeing 747s with new 787-9 Dreamliners.

Speaking on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association annual general meeting in Seoul last week, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce flagged the improving international business.

“What’s helping us in particular, because of high fuel prices for the first time in 14-years capacity into Australia is in negative growth, which is a big decline,” Mr Joyce said.

“We’re seeing a significant improvement in the performance of our international business and there will be a significant improvement in the second half.”

In the case of Emirates, which saw its market share fall from 7.8 per cent to 6.8 per cent in March, available seats on flights to and from Australia have reduced from 388,280 late last year to 357,898.

Qantas is expected to launch more international services in the next year as a result of its partnership with American Airlines.

Mr Joyce has indicated he will start non-stop flights from Brisbane to Chicago and San Francisco once final approval of the airlines’ antitrust immunity deal is received.

Route by route, Sydney-Santiago was the standout performer for Qantas in March, with an average of more than 97 per cent of seats filled in both directions.

Services to Japan and South Africa were also consistently packed, while seat utilisation on UK and US flights were slightly down on previous months.

Jetstar remains the only low-fare carrier in the top ten international airlines servicing Australia, with budget airlines continuing to lose market share overall.