The mining boom is driving strong growth in passenger travel to and from Perth even as more popular east coast routes show sluggish or negative growth. Overall passenger numbers through the Western Australia capital were up 9.5 per cent to 11.45 million for the year ending September 30, according to figures released by the Bureau
Qantas saw a slight decline in its share of international travel to and from Australia in September as industrial action by labour unions got underway. The Flying Kangaroo continued to lead the market with 18.2 per cent of international passengers, down one per cent from September 2010. It was followed by Singapore Airlines at nine per cent
Following in the footsteps of other major US carriers, American Airlines has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it seeks to restructure operations and cut labour costs. American said the filing would have no immediate impact on flight schedules and would not affect its frequent flyer program. A “modest” reduction in flights and a
Air New Zealand is ratcheting up its frequent flyer card in a bid to replace most of the rest of the cards in your wallet. Air New Zealand’s new Airpoints loyalty card will include an optional pre-paid debit card as well as an ePass tag to ease domestic check-in. Once activated, the MasterCard branded debit
Virgin Australia frequent flyers will be able to earn and redeem points online with Westfield under a new partnership between the airline and shopping centre management group. Virgin says the new program is in response to market research that shows non-flight rewards such as retail purchases nearly as popular with Australian frequent flyers as flight
Hoping to inject some “typical Aussie character” into its “traditional Cantonese inflight experience,” China Southern Airlines has launched a recruiting drive looking for some very Australian flight attendants. The drive netted 400 applications in its first week and will wrap up next month in Sydney before moving on to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth next year.
