Qantas’s domestic services saw a drop in passengers in September even as its Jetstar and QantasLink brands showed strong growth.
The 3.5 per cent decline compared to September 2010 was attributed in part to the start of rolling industrial action by Qantas labour unions. But the numbers also reflect the growth of budget brands including Qantas’s own Jetstar, which saw a 9.1 per cent increase in domestic passengers to 878,000 for the month, according to numbers released by the company last week.
Jetstar Asia and Jetstar International also saw strong growth, with increases of 17.1 per cent and 9.7 per cent respectively. Qantas International, by contrast, was relatively static with an increase of just 0.4 per cent.
Traffic for regional arm QantasLink grew by eight per cent.
