Brisbane Airport

Hawaiian Airlines endures short-term pain to secure, it hopes, successful longevity

Hawaiian Airlines faces a challenging time during 1H2013 as its efforts to diversify outside of the Hawaii-US west coast market during the last few years need more time to bear fruit. Its ambitious long-haul expansion is accompanied by the introduction of a new inter-island subsidiary and the reworking of other portions of its inter-island network.

All of the changes Hawaiian is undertaking or planning to introduce are intended to bolster efforts to preserve its profitability, which has been fairly consistent during the last few years. But in the near future the carrier is facing pressure as its new long-haul Asian markets spool up and increases in competitive capacity create pressure in its trans-Pacific service to the continental US.

While the strategy Hawaiian is adopting to persevere in the long-term is solid, the airline might be attempting to accomplish too much too fast, which in the shorter-term is creating pressure on yields and unit revenues.

Airlines' tangled alliances evolve: British Airways-Cathay Pacific codeshare to Australia - for now

Implications continue to emerge from the Sep-2012 landmark Emirates-Qantas alliance, the latest development being a codeshare covering Australia for British Airways and Cathay Pacific. Although the two are members of the oneworld alliance and at first blush may be considered partners, they had the most minimal of ties, owing to significant competition between them.

That competitive situation still exists but other factors have changed: BA's once deep partner Qantas is now a competitor, aligned with Emirates, and is establishing a Jetstar franchise on Cathay's home turf in Hong Kong. BA and Cathay are united by a common enemy – not the first occasion this reasoning has spawned an alliance – but also other factors. BA has lost its Australian network access and Cathay fits in; meanwhile Cathay will be receptive to feed to sustain its positioning after China Southern and Singapore Airlines have made large capacity increases in Australia.

Alliances are evolving, and this partnership will surely change – or go extinct – as BA becomes more familiar with new oneworld members Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways, with whom it will have more in common than it does with Cathay.

Hawaiian Airlines looks to rebound from tough competitive market conditions in 2H2013

Hawaiian Airlines believes industry-wide capacity cuts and decreases in its own unprofitable supply will allow the carrier to post a stronger performance during 2H2013. This is after currency pressures, a somewhat too ambitious expansion into inter-island markets and competitive pressure on its routes to the US mainland dulled the carrier’s 4Q2012 performance.

The company recorded a USD3.4 million loss during the last three months of 2012 compared with a USD21 million profit for the year prior.

Despite the decline in profits Hawaiian recorded a 14% increase in top-line revenues to USD493 million during 4Q2012; but a 20% jump in operating expenses to USD481 million drove operating income down 64% to USD12 million.

Australian domestic airfares tumble as airlines wage a capacity battle

Australian domestic fares have tumbled in the past year as Tiger claws its way back into the market from its grounding in 2011, and Qantas and Virgin Australia continue to slug it out for overall market share.

It is unlikely that the pressure on fares and thus yields will let up in 2013 as Tiger continues to add capacity and Virgin and Qantas, along with Jetstar, stick to their targets to add between 7% and 9% capacity in the first half of the current financial year.

All those extra seats should keep a lid on any fare rises, and if Virgin is given the regulatory green light to take effective control of Tiger Australia, along with the promised investment to expand the LCC, there is a real prospect that fares will reduce even further.

Tiger Airways takes the fight to Virgin Australia despite JV prospects

Tiger Airways Australia has not been put off taking on its potential future parent Virgin Australia with a decision to compete head to head between Sydney and Coffs Harbour from Feb-2013.

The Singapore-owned LCC is steadily rebuilding its franchise after safety regulators grounded the carrier for six weeks in an unprecedented move in Jul-2011. Since its relaunch in Aug-2011 Tiger Australia's aim has been to build a foundation it can expand from without compromising safety processes which led to the grounding, and eventually achieve so-far elusive profitability.

However, Tiger Australia’s fortunes received a major boost with the announcement in Oct-2012 that Virgin Australia would acquire 60% of the carrier, subject to regulatory approvals. While greatly levelling the playing field with Qantas – with its Jetstar LCC brand – the move could dramatically reshape the domestic network by removing a third competitor of any scale and returning the market to a duopoly between the Qantas and Virgin Australia groups.

Tiger Airways has announced five new destinations in 2012 – Cairns, Adelaide, Hobart, Mackay and Coffs Harbour.

Qantas presses ahead with post-Emirates European & Asian restructure as competitors show no leniency

Qantas has commenced selling of its restructured European and Asian network, adjusted following its landmark partnership deal with Emirates. But with Qantas and Emirates withdrawing their application to Australian authorities for interim approval to commence planning, Qantas has made this extensive restructure on its own and without Emirates coordination. Officially Qantas will keep this schedule irrespective of the outcome of its partnership application with Emirates, but the changes are deeply tied to assuming the partnership will be authorised, without which Qantas will need to make further adjustments.

The withdrawal of request for interim authorisation follows officially lodged criticism from competitors that interim authorisation was too ambitious a request, with Qantas' claims for authorisation either unnecessary or anti-competitive. One of the largest partnerships in history will have to prove its weight.