The government's Qatar decision could have saved Qantas $100m
New analysis suggests the Spirit of Australia would have coped just fine with a little more competition.
The federal government's decision to block Qatar Airways from expanding in Australia could have saved Qantas more than $100 million.
At least that is the view of independent aviation analyst Tony Webber.
He estimates the extra Qatar flights would have added up to 14% extra capacity between Australia and Europe — which remains below pre-pandemic levels — and eaten into Qantas tickets on those routes by around 5-7%. That works out to savings for Qantas of between $77 million in $108 million in revenue per year.
Even if that estimate is off significantly it represents a small chunk of Qantas' top line. The company generated $19.8 billion in revenue last financial year. As such, the estimate further undermines the federal government's claim that it made the Qatar decision to ensure Qantas remains financially sound.
“Qantas will survive domestically because it has a very large share of the corporate market that are locked into flying with Qantas,” Weber told Capital Brief.
