ANDREW DOYLE / CAIRNS
Budget Qantas subsidiary puts China - particularly Shanghai - high on list
Australian Airlines is eyeing expansion to 12 aircraft within two years after inaugurating flights to its launch destinations of Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, Singapore, Taipei and Hong Kong. The airline is targeting Shanghai as potentially the next addition to its network.
With operating costs "25-30% less" than those of parent Qantas, the all-economy class long-haul leisure airline started flying from its Cairns operating base to Nagoya and Osaka in Japan on 27 October and added Singapore and Fukuoka on 21 November. Hong Kong and Taipei came on line the following day. There is also a daily connecting flight between Cairns and the Gold Coast in Australia.
The airline has launched with four ex-Qantas Boeing 767-300ERs, and is in talks with an unspecified lessor for two more of the type, says Australian Airlines chief executive Denis Adams. The airline is seeking aircraft equipped with six doors, rather than the eight included on some versions, to allow the airline to operate with only six cabin crew rather than the eight currently required. A member of the cabin crew must be stationed next to each exit station during take-off and landing, says Adams.
Its business plan calls for Australian to be operating eight aircraft by October 2003 and 12 by the end of 2004. The airline is seeking additional General Electric CF6-powered aircraft but Adams says there is no urgency to sign more lease deals.
Shanghai services from Cairns could be the first to be added to the network next year if the extra 767s can be secured, he says.
"We're still carrying out some analysis of the opportunities," says Adams. "China is high on the list - particularly Shanghai." A decision on launching Shanghai is due by the end of the year and a start date "depends on aircraft availability".
He says the Indian market, from which Qantas has withdrawn completely, is "also quite attractive to us". Also planned are higher frequencies to current destinations such as Singapore, which is initially being served only three times weekly.
A second operating base, probably Sydney or Melbourne, should come on line by late 2003 to spearhead development of the Australian outbound market. Other destinations under consideration for Australian Airlines to operate from southern Australia include Phuket in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Source: Flight International
