Qantas continues to romp. In the first half of 2018, the flying kangaroo posted a 9% profit margin—one point better than in the same period last year. And with that, Qantas is working on its fourth consecutive calendar year with double-digit margins. Despite more exposure to rising fuel prices, Air New Zealand still mostly kept […]
Life is good in Australasia—especially if you’re Qantas or Air New Zealand. Both carriers are enjoying a bit of a golden age that stems from good management and some macro tailwinds. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia, seemingly unable to catch those tailwinds, drifted toward a disheartening 2% operating profit margin in 2017. Scandinavia’s SAS, meanwhile, had a […]
Cathay Pacific has seen all its oxygen sucked out of the room by the hyper growth of the Chinese carriers. Is there anything to be done? Sometimes waiting is the best option. Australia has two major airlines with two very different stories to tell. While Qantas is enjoying a golden age, Virgin Australia is a […]
In a new book about China, Harvard professor Graham Allison provides a list of astonishing facts about the country’s economic development. In 1980, its gross domestic product was less than $300 billion, with 90 out of every 100 citizens living on less than $2 per day. By 2015, GDP was $11 trillion, second only to […]
Qantas reported a best-ever annual result. Not bad for a company that’s 95 years old. And not bad for a company that was barely breaking even just a few years ago. Virgin Australia, on the other hand, with a 2% operating margin, isn’t breaking any records—well, any records you’d want to break, that is. And […]
Its hub geography is terrible. It has limited scale. It has a small home economy with relatively high labor costs. Yet Air New Zealand continues to win with a bad hand. In calendar year 2015, despite all its inherent challenges, the airline from Auckland once again prevailed against conventional wisdom. It earned a 13% operating […]
After hitting the floor in 2013, Qantas, has—like a boomerang—come all the way back and more. In fact, the Australian carrier set an annual profit record in 2015. Despite enjoying the same advantages inherent to the Land of Oz right now, Virgin Australia has not found the same level of fortune. But in terms of […]