Australian Airlines bites the dust!.
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QANTAS'S first Asian expansion play has proved a failure, with the flying kangaroo expected to announce today the axing of its Cairns-based leisure brand, Australian Airlines.
Australian's distinctive ochre planes will be repainted and returned to Qantas mainline operations from mid-year as the company concentrates on launching its low-cost Jetstar International.
It is understood Qantas officials believe Australian's demise was necessary to wipe the slate clean and allow it to concentrate on its twin-brand philosophy.
The decision to drop the Australian brand will be announced at a press conference in Melbourne today which will also reveal Jetstar's international routes to Asia.
Job losses among the airline's staff of more than 400 are expected to be negligible, with most staff being absorbed by the mainline operations.
The five all-economy Boeing 767s will be converted to two-class configurations and the airline is expected to retain Australian's base in Cairns.
Qantas announced in February it was restructuring its management and that it would group its flying businesses under the Jetstar and Qantas brands.
Jetstar is about to formally seek approvals to fly the routes from November and to change its air operators certificate to fly widebody, two-class A330 aircraft.
QANTAS'S first Asian expansion play has proved a failure, with the flying kangaroo expected to announce today the axing of its Cairns-based leisure brand, Australian Airlines.
Australian's distinctive ochre planes will be repainted and returned to Qantas mainline operations from mid-year as the company concentrates on launching its low-cost Jetstar International.
It is understood Qantas officials believe Australian's demise was necessary to wipe the slate clean and allow it to concentrate on its twin-brand philosophy.
The decision to drop the Australian brand will be announced at a press conference in Melbourne today which will also reveal Jetstar's international routes to Asia.
Job losses among the airline's staff of more than 400 are expected to be negligible, with most staff being absorbed by the mainline operations.
The five all-economy Boeing 767s will be converted to two-class configurations and the airline is expected to retain Australian's base in Cairns.
Qantas announced in February it was restructuring its management and that it would group its flying businesses under the Jetstar and Qantas brands.
Jetstar is about to formally seek approvals to fly the routes from November and to change its air operators certificate to fly widebody, two-class A330 aircraft.
Don't think it was so much as a failure as a victim of Jetstars success and of other uncontrollable circumstances (e.g. Bali, SARS)
It served its purpose to reduce the groups losses on unprofitable routes that Qantas was having trouble making any money on.
Pity though I liked the look of the planes and the staff were friendly, but looking forward to seeing 2 class Jetstar where you can earn points unlike Australian which was always annoying.
Member of: AA Exec Plat; QF LTG; PC Plat; HHonors Gold
Posts: 10,055
This is not unexpected news. Many of us have been wondering where AO was going to fit into the Qantas Group with the birth of JQ International. And this seems to make business sense to me. AO was always a full-service airline established to have a lower operating cost. They can lower the costs further with the JQ International model.
Having read the details on the QF website, it appears to be mainly a change of paint, uniforms, and flight schedules/numbers.
This bit was interesting:
Quote:
Mr Dixon said Australian Airlines staff would operate services under the Qantas brand. (This is called a wet lease operation in the aviation industry.)
Does this mean that Australian Airlines will be leasing the planes back to Qantas (together with crew etc?)
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Member of: AA Exec Plat; QF LTG; PC Plat; HHonors Gold
Posts: 10,055
Quote:
Originally Posted by oz_mark
Does this mean that Australian Airlines will be leasing the planes back to Qantas (together with crew etc?)
Quite possibly. Part of the reason AO was created was to provide the ability to start new labour contracts with the staff. So by wet-leasing from AO, the staff still get paid as AO staff at AO rates, but the logo on the aircraft if QF. This is the same as the JetConnect Flights using aircraft and crews based on NZ.
If the existing AO staff were moved into the QF labour fold, they would have to pay them the same rates and conditions as other QF staff performing the same task.
I dont want to blow my own trumpet so to speak, however I predicted on the QFF forum the day Jetstar announced that they were going international, the demise of Australian Airlines. I will now take a punt and further predict that the name Jetstar will be a marketing disaster when it comes to international routes. I would stongly suggest that Qantas have a good look at the name Jetstar and change it to something that will appease the international Australian travelling public.
One of many reasons as I see it, Jetstar has had very bad publicity vide the media and the public in general. Listen to any talk back radio and when it comes to Jetstar conversation, it is always to the negative. In simple terms, mud sticks!
Ozjet, failed because they went for a nitch market and there is no room in Australian RPT aviation for a nitch market. If I had been the CEO of Ozjet, I would have gone back to the old "standby" ticketing system. Ballpark, $150 no frills each way, one class, MEL-SYD/SYD-MEL. First in best dressed, no web sales, counter sales only at the point of departure.
I dont want to blow my own trumpet so to speak, however I predicted on the QFF forum the day Jetstar announced that they were going international, the demise of Australian Airlines.
You did indeed, macca172. Well done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macca172
I will now take a punt and further predict that the name Jetstar will be a marketing disaster when it comes to international routes. I would stongly suggest that Qantas have a good look at the name Jetstar and change it to something that will appease the international Australian travelling public.
One of many reasons as I see it, Jetstar has had very bad publicity vide the media and the public in general. Listen to any talk back radio and when it comes to Jetstar conversation, it is always to the negative. In simple terms, mud sticks!
I agree. And they only have themselves to blame for this because they've thrown the baby out witht the bathwater in terms of customer service. Unless they address this they will tarnish any other name they care to use.
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