The long-haul Kangaroo route between Australia and the UK is becoming more active, competitive and controversial, with Virgin Atlantic Airways winning approval for flights.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has finally gained approval to extend its London-Hong Kong service to Australia, thus winning its long-running campaign to compete with British Airways and Qantas on the Kangaroo route.
But controversy still surrounds Virgin's new Hong Kong-Sydney flights, set to start in December. Its approval is only provisional because the European Commission has still not resolved whether last year's UK-Hong Kong bilateral, which allows these flights, meets the guidelines set by Brussels.
Cathay Pacific, which still awaits clearance for UK-USA flights under the same bilateral, has called Virgin's Australia flight plans "premature".
Undeterred by this dispute, Qantas is boosting its own weekly flights to London from 21 to 27, with half its new flights via Hong Kong. Qantas bought the additional Heathrow slots needed for these flight in January from Europe's FlyBe. But even the new Qantas route raises concerns. Qantas seeks all seven frequencies allowed under the Australia-Hong Kong bilateral, and Australia's International Air Services Commission has tentatively awarded them. But the Commission is worried because three of those flights cannot be operated for two more years and its award to Qantas locks out any other Australian carrier. It has taken the unusual step of inviting public comment before making its decision.
Oneworld member Qantas is able to redeploy aircraft to the London route because of a new codeshare with Skyteam's Air France. On 31 October Qantas will drop its three weekly flights to Paris in favour of a Singapore-Paris codeshare with Air France. Qantas operates 52 weekly flights between Australia and Singapore that can feed traffic to and from Air France. Air France will place its code on the Singapore-Australia sectors operated by Qantas.
As a result of its boost in Heathrow flights, Qantas plans by next June to open a London base for 400 cabin crew, estimating that will save it A$18 million ($13 million) annually. Its plan, however, has drawn heavy fire from the flight attendants union over fear of foreign recruitment and longer working hours without extra pay. The current labour agreement restricts overseas crew bases, but it expires in December.
"Qantas is rapidly establishing a capability to service the UK market independently of British Airways," observes Peter Harbison, managing director for the Sydney's Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. For several years BA and Qantas and BA have co-operated under a joint services agreement. But Harbison notes the new Qantas flights and Air France codeshare may hasten the day when Qantas flies the Kangaroo route on its own.
DAVID KNIBB BRISBANE
Source: Airline Business
