Qantas passenger numbers climb in July on Tiger Airways' grounding woes

QANTAS Group passenger numbers were up 6.2 per cent in July, buoyed by Jetstar's expansion and a bounce in the domestic leisure market from the grounding of rival Tiger Airways. Passenger numbers on Jetstar's domestic operations were up 21.2 per cent and the airline’s domestic load factor rose 3.7 percentage points, to 84.5 per cent, despite a 21.5 per cent rise in capacity.
By contrast, passenger numbers on Qantas domestic operations were up by a more modest 1 per cent and its revenue seat factor fell 1.1 points to 82 per cent.
All segments of the airline recorded growth in July, compared to last year, with Jetstar International (up 7.9 per cent) and QantasLink (up 4.7 per cent) the next best performers after Jetstar domestic.
Growth and seat factors at Qantas international remained flat and a massive 47.8 per cent growth in capacity at Jetstar Asia saw the seat factor fall 5.4 percentage points to 75.9 per cent.

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But group yields, excluding foreign exchange, headed in the right direction with international up 7 per cent on the same period last year and total domestic up 9.4 per cent.
The figures come as the airline began a $250 million project, involving 120 jobs, to overhaul its Boeing 747 interiors to bring them into line with its popular A380.
The refit, being undertaken at the carrier's Avalon maintenance base, will see nine aircraft refitted with new seats, galleys, fittings and the Panasonic in-flight entertainment system available in the Airbus aircraft.
The first aircraft is due to start flying between Brisbane and Los Angeles in October, with the others due to be introduced by the end of next year.
The refits are part of a restructure of Qantas international operations that will also see it retire four 747s and defer orders for six A380s.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au