Australia domestic airline market outlook: Qantas Group reins in capacity as Virgin continues growth

Throughout the global financial crisis, Australia's domestic market defied global aviation trends. Although LCCs made inroads and grew the market, short-haul corporate travel - mostly in premium cabins - remained strong. A domestic market serving 20-odd million people produced profits in excess of AUD1 billion. More recently those profits were slashed during a capacity war between Virgin Australia, seeking a larger position in the market, and Qantas, which fought to defend its position.

Qantas applied the capacity brakes in the first half of fiscal 2015, removing seats across both Qantas and Jetstar for the first time since the capacity growth spurt. Capacity forecasts show the group continuing to remove capacity in 2H2015. Qantas is forecast to end FY2015 with a 3.5% reduction in domestic ASKs and Jetstar a 2.3% reduction. The smaller Virgin Australia will meanwhile grow 2.2% and its smaller LCC unit Tigerair will grow 8.9%.