Last week, I wrote an article for CNBC, which talked about the agility of Qantas that keeps the airline in profitable territory. The article resulted in a lively debate with a number of Aussie aviation experts down under, and one of them kindly offered to write a detailed Guest Post on SimpliFlying on how it’s actually Jetstar that’s keeping Qantas afloat.

Grant McHerron (aka Falcon124) is an opinionated aviation enthusiast & co-host of Plane Crazy Down Under, Australia’s only aviation podcast. He is an online/digital project manager and perpetual student pilot who can often be found crewing hot air balloons, working airside at Avalon Airshow and plane spotting at airports around the world. He graciousouly hosted me when I visited Melbourne last year, and we almost watched the sunrise in his hot-air balloon Enjoy!

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The latest half-yearly results from QANTAS continue to show an airline that is hemorrhaging cash on its mainline, full service routes. While QANTAS are certainly showing signs of agility, the primary factor keeping the group afloat is the success of their Low Cost Carrier brand Jetstar.
The creation of Jetstar
Towards the end of the 1990′s, QANTAS saw …

It’s been a fascinating day, as an outside observer of the impasse between Singapore Airlines and Flight Center – one of Australia’s largest and most powerful travel agents (they’re actually much more than just an agent).
The Contradictions – SIA vs Flight Center
Late last night, SIA sent out an email to its Australian frequent fliers, which announced that the airline’s tickets will no longer be sold through Flight Center. That came as a shock, since it’s like saying your website won’t appear on Google.

But things got more interesting, when Flight Center put out a release countering what Singapore Airlines had said, claiming that they’re still selling SIA tickets, but it’s just not the preferred airline. What that means is if you want to fly from Sydney to London, Flight Center would recommend Emirates, Qantas or another airline, unless you insist on flying Singapore Airlines. And that can still mean a lot of business loss.

No lessons learnt from the Indian fiasco?
SIA flight attendants on flights to India used to be tired by the end of the …