Latest news with #AnnaBrakey
West Australian
20-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Qantas Group, Virgin Australia reap sky-high profits off the back of limited competition, strong travel demand
Dwindling competition and record profits are clearing the way for an airline duopoly between Qantas and Virgin Australia, a new report has revealed. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) latest domestic airline competition report notes Qantas and Virgin are ruling the skies off the back of strong financial results. Qantas recorded a whopping $1.5b in earnings for the first half of the 2025 financial year – $916m of that from its domestic operations, including its budget carrier Jetstar. Both carriers services 63.9 per cent of all passengers, the consumer watchdog found. It comes as Jetstar remains the only low-cost carrier in Australia since the collapse of Bonza and the closure of Tiger Air in 2020. Rex, which has reduced capacity on regional services following its administration, only carried 1.7 per cent of passengers. The airline reported a massive earnings surge of about 54 per cent between the first half of the 2024 and 2025 financial years. 'The high half-yearly earnings reported by Qantas Group reflect its dominance of the domestic airline sector, with Qantas and Jetstar accounting for over 60 per cent of passengers,' ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said. 'Jetstar has been able to capitalise on the continued absence of competitive pressure from another low-cost carrier in the domestic market to increase its market share and operating margin.' Virgin Australia recorded a similar spike in earnings, achieving record profits across the first half of this financial year following its post-administration restructure under Bain Capital. Its half-year results are not publicly reported. Airfare prices remained the same and followed seasonal trends in the first quarter of 2025. Passenger demand took a hit off the back of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, but took back off again during April due to the school holidays, Easter and Anzac Day all following right after each other. The ACCC found April 17, 2025, the Thursday before Good Friday, was the busiest day for domestic travel in the past five years. Qantas delivered its first dividend since 2019 earlier in the year, announcing it had paid 27,000 non-executive employees $1000 each as a 'thank you payment' in December. 'Our financial strength means we are now in a position to pay our shareholders dividends for the first time in almost six years,' Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said at the time. However, the airline could be forced to pay more than $120m in penalties for illegally outsourcing more than 1800 ground workers during 2020. A three-day hearing in the High Court began on Monday to decide the penalty Qantas must pay for the illegal sacking – a decision the airline has admitted it was 'in the wrong' for.
Perth Now
20-05-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Reason for Aussie airline's mega profits
Dwindling competition and record profits are clearing the way for an airline duopoly between Qantas and Virgin Australia, a new report has revealed. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) latest domestic airline competition report notes Qantas and Virgin are ruling the skies off the back of strong financial results. Qantas recorded a whopping $1.5b in earnings for the first half of the 2025 financial year – $916m of that from its domestic operations, including its budget carrier Jetstar. Both carriers services 63.9 per cent of all passengers, the consumer watchdog found. The consumer watchdog revealed Australian's aviation industry is dominated by two major players - Qantas and Virgin. NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui Credit: News Corp Australia It comes as Jetstar remains the only low-cost carrier in Australia since the collapse of Bonza and the closure of Tiger Air in 2020. Rex, which has reduced capacity on regional services following its administration, only carried 1.7 per cent of passengers. The airline reported a massive earnings surge of about 54 per cent between the first half of the 2024 and 2025 financial years. 'The high half-yearly earnings reported by Qantas Group reflect its dominance of the domestic airline sector, with Qantas and Jetstar accounting for over 60 per cent of passengers,' ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said. 'Jetstar has been able to capitalise on the continued absence of competitive pressure from another low-cost carrier in the domestic market to increase its market share and operating margin.' Qantas' low cost carrier Jetstar has recorded a massive earnings surge of about 54 per cent between the first half of the 2024 and 2025 financial years. NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui Credit: News Corp Australia Virgin Australia recorded a similar spike in earnings, achieving record profits across the first half of this financial year following its post-administration restructure under Bain Capital. Its half-year results are not publicly reported. Airfare prices remained the same and followed seasonal trends in the first quarter of 2025. Passenger demand took a hit off the back of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, but took back off again during April due to the school holidays, Easter and Anzac Day all following right after each other. The ACCC found April 17, 2025, the Thursday before Good Friday, was the busiest day for domestic travel in the past five years. Virgin Australia saw a similar spike in earnings, achieving record profits across the first half of this financial year. NewsWire / Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia Qantas delivered its first dividend since 2019 earlier in the year, announcing it had paid 27,000 non-executive employees $1000 each as a 'thank you payment' in December. 'Our financial strength means we are now in a position to pay our shareholders dividends for the first time in almost six years,' Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said at the time. However, the airline could be forced to pay more than $120m in penalties for illegally outsourcing more than 1800 ground workers during 2020. A three-day hearing in the High Court began on Monday to decide the penalty Qantas must pay for the illegal sacking – a decision the airline has admitted it was 'in the wrong' for.
News.com.au
20-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Qantas Group, Virgin Australia reap sky-high profits off the back of limited competition, strong travel demand
Dwindling competition and record profits are clearing the way for an airline duopoly between Qantas and Virgin Australia, a new report has revealed. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) latest domestic airline competition report notes Qantas and Virgin are ruling the skies off the back of strong financial results. Qantas recorded a whopping $1.5b in earnings for the first half of the 2025 financial year – $916m of that from its domestic operations, including its budget carrier Jetstar. Both carriers services 63.9 per cent of all passengers, the consumer watchdog found. It comes as Jetstar remains the only low-cost carrier in Australia since the collapse of Bonza and the closure of Tiger Air in 2020. Rex, which has reduced capacity on regional services following its administration, only carried 1.7 per cent of passengers. The airline reported a massive earnings surge of about 54 per cent between the first half of the 2024 and 2025 financial years. 'The high half-yearly earnings reported by Qantas Group reflect its dominance of the domestic airline sector, with Qantas and Jetstar accounting for over 60 per cent of passengers,' ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said. 'Jetstar has been able to capitalise on the continued absence of competitive pressure from another low-cost carrier in the domestic market to increase its market share and operating margin.' Virgin Australia recorded a similar spike in earnings, achieving record profits across the first half of this financial year following its post-administration restructure under Bain Capital. Its half-year results are not publicly reported. Airfare prices remained the same and followed seasonal trends in the first quarter of 2025. Passenger demand took a hit off the back of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, but took back off again during April due to the school holidays, Easter and Anzac Day all following right after each other. The ACCC found April 17, 2025, the Thursday before Good Friday, was the busiest day for domestic travel in the past five years. Qantas delivered its first dividend since 2019 earlier in the year, announcing it had paid 27,000 non-executive employees $1000 each as a 'thank you payment' in December. 'Our financial strength means we are now in a position to pay our shareholders dividends for the first time in almost six years,' Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said at the time. However, the airline could be forced to pay more than $120m in penalties for illegally outsourcing more than 1800 ground workers during 2020. A three-day hearing in the High Court began on Monday to decide the penalty Qantas must pay for the illegal sacking – a decision the airline has admitted it was 'in the wrong' for.
Sky News AU
20-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Qantas Group, Virgin Australia reap mega earnings on little aviation competition, strong domestic travel demand: ACCC
Australia's major airlines continue to reap huge earnings as limited competition and strong travel demand has secured strong financial results for the nation's dominating carriers. This is according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission which delivered its latest report monitoring the nation's domestic airline sector. The consumer watchdog pointed to Qantas Group's $1.5b in earnings for the first half of 2025 financial year, which includes its budget subsidiary Jetstar. Qantas Group earned $916m from its domestic operations across both carriers while Jetstar reporting a massive earnings surge of about 54 per cent between the first half of the 2024 and 2025 financial years. It comes as Jetstar remains the only low-cost carrier in Australia since the collapse of Bonza last year and Tigerair's exit in 2020. ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said the lack of competition was a major boon for the budget airline. 'Jetstar has been able to capitalise on the continued absence of competitive pressure from another low-cost carrier in the domestic market to increase its market share and operating margin,' Ms Brakey said in a statement. The watchdog said the withdrawal of Rex from the major city routes after it went into administration sent more passengers to Virgin Australia, nudging the major carrier's market share up three per cent to 34 per cent. This comes as Virgin secured three Boeing 737 aircraft leases from Rex. While Virgin does not publicly report its half-year results, its former CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said the airline achieved record profits in the first half of the 2025 financial year after it was restructured under Bain Capital. Qantas' profit was boosted by its 80 per cent share of the corporate travel market, playing an important role in Qantas Domestic's $647m in earnings. "The high half-yearly earnings reported by Qantas Group reflect its dominance of the domestic airline sector, with Qantas and Jetstar accounting for over 60 per cent of passengers," Ms Brakey said. While passenger demand took a hit during March with the impacts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred leading to a downturn in Brisbane and Gold Coast flights, passenger numbers surged in April due to the school holidays, Easter and ANZAC Day all falling in a three week period. 'Airservices Australia noted that 17 April 2025 (the Thursday before Good Friday) was the busiest day for domestic travel in the past five years,' the ACCC wrote. Qantas delivered its first dividend since 2019 earlier this year after revealing its stellar results for the first half of the 2025 financial year. 'Our financial strength means we are now in a position to pay our shareholders dividends for the first time in almost six years,' Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said. Alongside the dividend, the airline said it had paid 27,000 non-executive employees $1000 each as a "thank you payment" in December. Qantas also noted a drop with international airfares of about 6.6 per cent, while domestic flights increased 0.8 per cent. Jetstar's low fares were a point of pride for the company as about one third of tickets below $100 for the six-month period.
Al Arabiya
28-03-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Regulator clears Qatar Airways–Virgin Australia alliance
Australia's competition regulator gave the go-ahead Friday for Qatar Airways to launch an alliance with Virgin Australia. The decision clears Qatar Airways to cooperate for five years in an 'integrated alliance' with the Australian carrier, in which it will take a 25-percent stake. The pact would double flights between Doha and major Australian airports, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said. The boost in Australia–Middle East flights would create 'minimal, if any, public detriment,' the authority's commissioner, Anna Brakey, said in a statement. 'This will likely place downward price pressure on these routes and will also give customers of Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways a greater choice of international flights with additional connectivity and loyalty program benefits,' she said. Under the pact, Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia plan to launch 28 new weekly services between Doha and the Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. The competition regulator's decision was widely expected after it issued a draft determination in February proposing to grant authorization. The two airlines, along with Virgin owner Bain Capital, announced the long-rumored alliance proposal in October last year. The new flights are expected to stoke competition on expensive long-haul routes long dominated by Qantas. Qantas—along with its low-cost brand Jetstar—has a more than 60 percent share of the Australian market and boasts strong political clout. Virgin Australia started bankruptcy proceedings in 2020, laying off hundreds of staff as the COVID-19 outbreak grounded international flights. U.S. private equity giant Bain Capital came to the airline's rescue after the Australian government refused to bail out the majority foreign-owned company. Qatar Airways has been looking to increase its foothold in the Australian market. In 2023, Qatar launched a bid to put on 21 extra international flights to and from Australia each week. But the Australian government snubbed that request, citing a 2020 strip-search scandal at Doha Airport as a 'factor.' Women were pulled off 10 Qatar Airways flights at Doha Airport and forced to take invasive gynecological exams after a baby was abandoned in an airport bathroom. Three Australian women lodged legal action against Qatar Airways following the ordeal, although the case was eventually dismissed.
