QF in Cina

[landingFCO]

Sono partiti i voli Pechino-Sydney, oltre ai voli già operati Shanghai-Sydney. Si cercano anche nuove alleanze sul mercato cinese.....


Qantas fancies flights to China
By Rod Myer, Beijing
January 11, 2006


QANTAS is negotiating with Air China and other regional carriers to extend its range in Asia, says chairman Margaret Jackson.

Speaking in Beijing after Qantas' inaugural direct flight from Sydney to Beijing, Ms Jackson said the Chinese market would be increasingly important to the company in the future.

The new service deepened the relationship of Qantas and Australia with the world's most dynamic and rapidly expanding region, she said.

Qantas' service to Beijing will run three times a week both ways, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It adds to the four times a week service between Shanghai and Sydney. A code-share arrangement between China Eastern and Qantas on the Shanghai run gives the airline an effective seven-day operation on that route.

Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said the plan was to run daily services from both Shanghai and Beijing to Sydney within two years. Mr Borghetti said services would increase during the 2008 Olympics, and Boeing 747s would probably be used to cope with excess demand. At present, Qantas is running Airbus A330s on the China route.

Mr Borghetti said earlier services to China had failed because there was not enough high-margin business traffic. However, last year traffic between Australia and China grew 22 per cent, about three times the world average. As a result there would be good demand in the future, and Mr Borghetti said he felt the new service would achieve its goals within two years.

At present, business travel amounts to 38 per cent of all traffic on the China route. This is skewed to travel by Australians, but business and high-margin leisure travel from China is growing strongly. Mr Borghetti said that within two years the service would be balanced.

Qantas was looking at lots of ways to expand its China footprint. One option was to buy up to 20 per cent of a Chinese airline but that path did not look attractive at the moment, Mr Borghetti said.

Deals with new partners such as Air China and extending its relationship with China Eastern would enhance Qantas' business in the region by directing internal traffic to it, he said.

Qantas was also looking at China as a way of getting back into some European ports abandoned in recent times. Mr Borghetti said he could see a time when Qantas would run services from Australia through Beijing and on to Europe.

Rod Myer flew courtesy of Qantas.

- The Melbourne Age -

[landingFCO]

Qantas was also looking at China as a way of getting back into some European ports abandoned in recent times. Mr Borghetti said he could see a time when Qantas would run services from Australia through Beijing and on to Europe.

Riprendendo questo passaggio, nell'articolo che segue se ne parla più approfonditamente. Certo però volare via PEK o PVG per andare in Europa, non mi sembra la più felice delle idee.



Qantas To Seek Flights To Europe Via China

By Terence Poon
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


BEIJING (Dow Jones)--Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) hopes to fly to European cities via Beijing or Shanghai in the next three to four years, a senior official at the Australian carrier said Tuesday.

While Qantas has studied which destinations and transit points it may serve, it isn't yet in talks to gain such traffic rights, Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti told Dow Jones Newswires.

Qantas isn't alone in seeking so-called "beyond rights," as the airline industry grapples with rising fuel costs and competition. Singapore Airlines Ltd. (S55.SG) is asking Canberra for permission to let it pick up passengers in Sydney or Melbourne, then fly to the U.S. It would like to compete on the Sydney-Los Angeles route, where Qantas makes about 15% of its net profit.

"In the next three to four years, if we're not flying through (China), I would be surprised," Borghetti said, speaking a day after the carrier reintroduced flights to Beijing from Sydney.

Borghetti said he doesn't know when the Australian government will decide on granting Singapore Airlines beyond rights through Australia. "We're in the hands of the government," he said.

For Qantas to fly to Europe through China, it has to rely on the Australian government to negotiate bilateral agreements with the governments of destination countries.

"Australia does recognize that China may well be a hub in the future, but our rights at the moment don't allow that to happen," a spokeswoman for Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said.

Australian carriers, including Qantas, can now fly via China to Germany, but not the U.K.

"China is liberalizing its aviation services policy at the moment and in the future we could be looking to improve these beyond rights," the spokeswoman said.

In the fiscal year ended June 30, the U.K. and Europe contributed A$926.1 million, or 7.3%, of Qantas' total sales and operating revenue, which amounted to A$12.65 billion.

The airline derives over half of total revenue from Australia, while the U.K. and Europe are its largest overseas market by revenue.

Even as it hopes to defend and expand its network, Qantas is also seeking to cut fuel and maintenance costs.

The Australian carrier has been considering restructuring its engineering and maintenance operations, including moving parts of those operations out of Australia to countries including China.

Qantas will make a decision in February, said Borghetti, in line with a timeline of three to four months that Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon gave in October.

Maintenance and repair operations, especially those in China, have economies of scale that would allow costs at least 20% lower than at most other airlines, said Borghetti.

Qantas employs 6,900 persons for engineering and maintenance, according to a company statement in October. Over 93% of the carrier's 38,000 jobs are in Australia.

To cope with high fuel costs, Qantas, like some other carriers, has imposed a fuel surcharge and hedged its fuel purchases.

"The fuel surcharge stays as it is," said Borghetti.

Even so, fuel costs in the current fiscal year ending June are expected to be A$350 million to A$450 million more than in the prior fiscal year. Without hedging and surcharges, fuel costs would be A$900 million greater, Borghetti said.

In the last fiscal year, Qantas's fuel costs rose 42.5% year-on-year to A$1.93 billion, while the carrier's costs totaled A$11.53 billion, according to company data.

The Australian government may decide to lobby European governments for beyond rights from China once it concludes a review of its aviation policy. The result of the review, which also examines foreign ownership restrictions on Qantas shares and Singapore Airlines's proposed access to the Australia-U.S. route, is expected to be announced in coming months.

[marcogiov]

Certo però volare via PEK o PVG per andare in Europa, non mi sembra la più felice delle idee.

E perché no?

LHR-PEK-SYD 17109 km
LHR-PVG-SYD 17098 km
LHR-HKG-SYD 17019 km
LHR-BKK-SYD 17090 km
LHR-SIN-SYD 17176 km

[landingFCO]

E perché no?

LHR-PEK-SYD 17109 km
LHR-PVG-SYD 17098 km
LHR-HKG-SYD 17019 km
LHR-BKK-SYD 17090 km
LHR-SIN-SYD 17176 km

In effetti.....

Chissà perchè immaginavo fosse significativamente più lunga passando da PEK/PVG al posto dei consueti HKG/BKK/SIN/KUL.

Meglio così, la cosa potrebbe essere allora realmente fattibile.

[skyrobbie]

La prossima compagnia sarà NZ sulla Auckland-Shanghai con 777 3xw.

ciao!