Air Niugini, Qantas code-sharing not viable: Airline

Business

IT is not viable to have a code-sharing arrangement between Air Niugini and Qantas because the number of passengers have fallen over the years, according to Virgin Australia.
Virgin Australia pointed this out in a submission dated September 30 and published on the Australia’s International Air Services Commission website on October 4.
Although it is of the view that the history of code-share cooperation between Qantas and Air Niugini is relevant to the commission’s assessment of the matter, Virgin Australia provided some commentary regarding trends on the Papua New Guinea routes during the period which the decision had been in effect (from July 1,2012) to provide a backdrop for the airline’s submission.
Total passenger numbers on the Papua New Guinea route have fallen in recent years, from around 315,000 in 2013 to under 300,000 this year.
Aggregate industry load factors have weakened during this period, although Qantas and Air Niugini achieved higher loads than Virgin Australia in 2013, 2014 and the current financial year. This year, Qantas and Air Niugini together carried more than 80 per cent of passengers on the route, wit the remainder carried by Virgin Australia.
The route continued to be dominated by passengers travelling for business purposes, with the result that price discounting on PNG services has a limited effect in generating additional bookings and incremental revenue, given the relatively price inelastic nature of the business traveller and the lack of leisure traffic on the route.