Qantas: 'We have too few seats'
Tuesday April 28, 2009
Stay ahead with the latest aviation & MRO industry news : Delta TechOps
Qantas announced a comprehensive review of its seating configurations, with many premium seats expected to get the ax as business travel plummets.
The reassessment comes as QF is suffering the worst decline in business travel in decades with a fall of up to 30% in premium travelers, who are paying up to 50% less than the normal premium fare. CEO Alan Joyce conceded to ATWOnline yesterday that "we have too few seats on some of our aircraft," with premium seats making up 40% of the total on some.
He said the airline has been too focused on premium classes and pointed to one configuration on the 747-400 that features only 307 seats:14 first, 66 business, 40 premium economy and 187 economy. "That is just not enough seats," he said.
QF's A380s have only 450 seats, the lowest of any operator so far. It already has removed first class from some 747-400s on routes to Frankfurt and between Auckland and Los Angeles. The industry expectation in Australia is that first class will be removed from more 747s while business class will be reduced across the fleet, providing more room for premium economy and economy.
by Geoffrey Thomas
ATWOnline
Tuesday April 28, 2009
Stay ahead with the latest aviation & MRO industry news : Delta TechOps
Qantas announced a comprehensive review of its seating configurations, with many premium seats expected to get the ax as business travel plummets.
The reassessment comes as QF is suffering the worst decline in business travel in decades with a fall of up to 30% in premium travelers, who are paying up to 50% less than the normal premium fare. CEO Alan Joyce conceded to ATWOnline yesterday that "we have too few seats on some of our aircraft," with premium seats making up 40% of the total on some.
He said the airline has been too focused on premium classes and pointed to one configuration on the 747-400 that features only 307 seats:14 first, 66 business, 40 premium economy and 187 economy. "That is just not enough seats," he said.
QF's A380s have only 450 seats, the lowest of any operator so far. It already has removed first class from some 747-400s on routes to Frankfurt and between Auckland and Los Angeles. The industry expectation in Australia is that first class will be removed from more 747s while business class will be reduced across the fleet, providing more room for premium economy and economy.
by Geoffrey Thomas
ATWOnline
