New planes, gimmicks and finally, better fares arrive as Virgin’s Qatar tie-up has sector lifting its game

There’s nothing like a bit of competition to get airlines’ creative juices flowing and Australian travellers are the beneficiaries. Qantas, Emirates and Etihad are refusing to cede ground to the new Qatar timetable enabled by its Virgin alliance.

Australians are travelling like never before in frequency and style, as airlines send their best product and newest aeroplanes to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for a slice of the lucrative long haul action.

The catalyst for this sudden wave of attention is additional Qatar Airways’ flights operated on behalf of Virgin Australia, which threaten to take market share from the likes of Qantas, Emirates and Etihad.

Qantas launched a premium cabin sale across its international network, cutting the price of fares even in key holiday periods in response to Thursday’s inaugural flight VA1 from Sydney to Doha.

The sale fares included $4299 for premium economy return on Sydney-New York, $3799 return in the same cabin for Sydney-London and $3699 for business class return on Melbourne-Singapore.

Qantas International chief executive Cam Wallace said premium travel was something customers “really valued” and he was confident the promotion would be well received.

“This sale is one we know our customers will love with discounted premium seats across our entire international network, including over peak periods like the northern summer and Christmas holidays,” said Mr Wallace.

Classic Plus rewards were also “discounted” on certain routes, allowing frequent flyers to get more bang from their points.

The timing was no coincidence, given the fanfare around the Virgin-Qatar flights which will extend to Brisbane and Perth in coming weeks, adding Melbourne in December.

For Qantas’ partner Emirates, the offensive strategy began months ago when the airline expanded its popular premium economy product to Brisbane routes, and added a third daily service to Melbourne using freshly retrofitted Boeing 777s.

The retrofit included perhaps the most luxurious first class apartments in the sky, as well as new business class, premium economy and economy seats.

The super luxurious Emirates’ first class suite on retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Picture: Emirates

Emirates president Tim Clark has hinted there is more to come, including the first major overhaul of economy seats in 30 years.

“We’ve got to do better than we have and we can, and by doing better I mean it certainly needs to go back to the drawing board,” said Sir Tim.

Etihad Airways potentially has the most to lose from the Virgin-Qatar tie-up which saw the Australian carrier cut its ties with the Abu Dhabi-based airline as part an exclusivity deal.

To that end, Etihad has stepped up promotion of its own frequent flyer program to Australian travellers, and scheduled an A350 on four of its eight weekly Sydney flights from October, with a 787-9 flying the remainder.

The move not only boosts overall capacity on the route from 290 seats in the 787-9 to 371 in the A350, it also means a jump from 28 to 44 premium seats.

Not to be outdone, Air New Zealand is also getting in on the act with retrofitted 787-9s, the first of which is doing regular flights into Brisbane from Auckland.

As more of the renovated aircraft return from Singapore, Air New Zealand will put them to work across the Pacific where the 59 premium cabin seats will be most appreciated.

Other carriers to announce product upgrades on new or existing aircraft include Singapore Airlines, China Airlines, Thai Airways and United Airlines.

And Qatar Airways isn’t resting on its laurels either, particularly with new Saudi airline Riyadh preparing to enter the crowded premium airline space in that region.

Qatar Airways’ new business class and first class menu by Australian chef Ross Lusted.

A partnership with Australian chef Ross Lusted for in-flight QSuite dining on flights from Australia includes lamb osso buco style, Fraser Island spanner crab cakes and Basque cheesecake.

It’s all a win for travellers as trips abroad eclipse 2019 figures.

Short-term resident departures were up 25 per cent on the same time last year, partly due to the timing of Easter, Bureau of Statistics data for April released on Friday showed.

Bali replaced New Zealand as our most visited overseas destination in the month, with Japan third and China fourth.

The US slid further from favour with visitor numbers well down on the same time last year at 56,770 compared to 60,520.

Originally published as New planes, gimmicks and finally, better fares arrive as Virgin’s Qatar tie-up has sector lifting its game