Qantas looks to add long-haul routes to remain competitive

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce stated the airline is preparing to increase international services to recover market share lost to international competitors including Emirates and Virgin Blue (Bloomberg, 07-Feb-2011). Mr Joyce stated that a team of 20 executives are looking at all options, which the CEO said includes a more aggressive deployment of fuel-efficient and popular A380 equipment and an alliance with a foreign airline. Qantas's long-haul international traffic to and from Australia fell 8% in the year ended Jun-2010, leaving the flag carrier with 20% market share, down from 35% in 2000. Mr Joyce stated Qantas "isn't returning its cost of capital, and the other businesses have been compensating for it for some time … that can't continue, and we need it to grow."