No slowdown in travel demand heading into hectic school holiday period, says Qantas

The national carrier will expand the popular initiative which allows economy passengers the chance to stretch out a little at minimal extra cost.

Qantas has revealed travel demand is showing no sign of being dampened by cost of living pressures as the airline gears up for a busy school holiday period.

More than 4 million passengers will be carried by Qantas and Jetstar between now and late July, as people “prioritised travel” over other spending in their budget.

Top winter destinations included tropical Cairns and the Gold Coast, while Qantas was also seeing a strong take-up of international seats to Rome and New York.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said airfares were lower than they were a year ago and were likely to fall a bit further as supply caught up with demand.

“The big impact on fares was the mismatch between supply and demand and what airlines all around the world have been doing is trying to get their aircraft back in the air,” Mr Joyce said.

“We’re over 100 per cent of domestic capacity and as a result fares are normalising domestically, and we’ve still got a bit of work to do to get there internationally.”

In another plus for passengers, Qantas shared its plan to expand the “neighbour free seat” offer now available on 130 domestic routes.

By the end of the year international economy travellers would also have the chance to “purchase” the seat beside them for a yet to be determined amount, in order to remain neighbour free.

On domestic routes, the fee ranges from $30 to $65, with Qantas sending an invitation to passengers 48-hours before their flight to take up the option of flying neighbour free.

In the event the seat was booked in the meantime, passengers were refunded their money.

A further announcement from Qantas outlined more details of a proposed engineering academy, to be split across two sites in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Run in partnership with training company Aviation Australia, the academy will open in 2025 with the goal of educating up to 300 engineers a year.

Facilities will be located close to Melbourne and Brisbane Airports where Qantas and Jetstar already have a strong engineering presence.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said already close to 1000 people had registered their interest in joining the academy since it was first flagged in March.

“Qantas has a proud history of having some of the best engineers in the world and we want to

make sure it stays that way,” Mr Joyce said.

“Training is in our DNA. We’re delivering around 2 million hours in training in 2023 alone, and like our pilot academy (in Toowoomba) this will build our pipeline of talent for both the Qantas Group and Australian aviation more broadly.”

Around 200 of the annual graduates could expect to be snapped up by Qantas with the remainder likely to find work with Defence or other airlines.

Aviation Australia CEO Bill Horrocks said the academy would go a long way to addressing the engineering skills shortfall.

“Our training combines job-ready skills and education to translate into employment

outcomes,” Mr Horrocks said.

“Students not only get the day-to-day experience of a working hangar, but supervised training on aircraft as well, for a seamless transition into operational environments.”

Qantas shares continued to fall post the media-blitz, slipping under $6 to close at $5.99 on Tuesday.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is packing a lot into his final six months with the airline. Picture: Steve Creedy