By Amelia McGuire
Qantas has unveiled a swath of additional services to New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, as well as two new international routes from Brisbane from October, as part of a push to expand international capacity which is expected to lower fares.
The carrier has committed to lease two Airbus A330s from Finnair to help the airline meet its goal of returning to 100 per cent of pre-COVID-19 international flying capacity by March 2024. The agreement to lease the aircraft stipulates Qantas will also use Finnair pilots and cabin crew – known as “wet leasing” – for the first two years of the four-year arrangement.
“There is still a mismatch between supply and demand for international flying”: Outgoing Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce.Credit: Rhett Wyman
The decision was met with outcry from Qantas pilots who accused the carrier of poor fleet planning and “outsourcing the spirit of Australia”.
Qantas chief Alan Joyce said the boost to the network will add “hundreds of thousands of seats” in time for summer, and give the carrier time to train an additional 300 pilots and cabin crew to takeover crewing the services. He also said ongoing supply chain issues continue to affect the aviation industry’s recovery, but the additional flights would put “downward pressure” on airfares.
“The Finnair pilots will fly services from Singapore to Australia to allow the Qantas pilots to do more flying to Japan. This doesn’t lose a single Australian job, it creates Australian jobs.
“These aircraft will create 200 cabin crew and 100 pilot jobs, it’s a positive for job creation and anyone who says anything else is just wrong,” Joyce said in a press conference on Friday.
“We know our customers are looking for great value and this additional capacity will also put downward pressure on fares.”
Australian and International Pilots Association President Captain Tony Lucas said the Finnair agreement was an “appalling decision to outsource Australian jobs and a significant failure of management”.
“Qantas’ decision to wet lease two Finnair aircraft is shocking, bitterly disappointing and could have been avoided with more effective management decisions,” he said.
“The decision to wet lease illustrates the failures of the fleet planning processes of the last five years and certainly recent decisions made during the pandemic recovery.”
The announcement adds to a series of new and returning routes the airline has already committed to. Flights to San Francisco are due to resume next week, and the airline will launch its new service from Sydney to New York via Auckland next month.
Seasonal services to Rome as well as flights between Melbourne and Hong Kong will also begin next month.
The airline has hired around 2400 pilots and cabin crew since borders reopened in 2021, but will need to recruit an additional 300 in order to support the additional flying.
The average cost of airfares has fallen from its 15-year peak at the end of 2022, but remains above pre-pandemic levels due to the sustained reduction in flying across all airlines.
The ACCC has been monitoring airfares for the past three years on a directive from the former Morrison government, but will no longer do so from July.
So far, no evidence of price gouging has been identified in the reports, but the watchdog said in December all carriers needed to reduce fares as capacity returned to the market.
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2023-05-19 00:08:56Z
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