Virgin Australia To Match Market Pricing If Qantas Cuts
November 01 2011 - 11:46PM
Dow Jones News
Virgin Australia Ltd. (VBA.AU) said Tuesday it will continue to
compete aggressively on ticket prices with Qantas Airways Ltd.
(QAN.AU) even if its rival offers lower fares to win back customers
lost through its damaging industrial dispute.
Qantas said this week that it's considering "customer engagement
opportunities" after the shock grounding of its fleet on the
weekend left many passengers stranded, and furious with Australia's
flag carrier.
"The thing with aviation is that it's very competitive. And in
particular with Virgin Australia we are a very competitive company,
so we will always meet market pricing," Chief Executive John
Borghetti told reporters after addressing an Australia Israel
Chamber of Commerce lunch.
Although he said the number of people passing through Virgin
Australia's lounges went "through the roof" on the weekend and that
the airline had carried about 30,000 disrupted passengers,
Borghetti was reluctant to put a measure on how much market share
it has taken from Qantas.
"Let's not forget it's only been two days. It's kind of a bit
early to tell," Borghetti told the business lunch.
"The market share is what it is because you've got capacity
there and you can only fill it to the top of that capacity. And
we've got about 30% of the capacity in this country plus or minus
half a point or whatever it is and that's your market share," he
said.
Borghetti told reporters the airline is still aiming to grow
capacity in the six months to Dec. 31 by 4%-6% compared to the same
period last year and that it's currently at about 5% growth.
-By Ross Kelly, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4692;
Ross.Kelly@dowjones.com
Virgin Blue Holdings (ASX:VBA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Virgin Blue Holdings (ASX:VBA)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024
Real-Time news about Virgin Blu Fpo (Australian Stock Exchange): 0 recent articles
More Virgin Blue Holdings News Articles