AUSTRALIA | The battle of domestic airlines has continued in Australia's aviation space, with strong annual turnovers for Qantas and Virgin.
Australia’s two largest airline groups have both recorded strong financial results for the first half of 2024-25, reflecting a number of factors, including strong ongoing demand for flying and limited domestic competition, the ACCC’s latest Domestic Airline Competition report has found.
Qantas Group reported earnings before interest and taxes of AUD 1.5 billion for the first half of 2024-25, with AUD 916 million coming from its domestic operations across both Qantas and Jetstar.
Of the Qantas Group’s total earnings, Qantas Domestic, including Qantaslink, contributed the highest share of the group’s earnings at AUD 647 million. Much of this result can be attributed to the airline’s dominance in the corporate travel market – Qantas Group had an 80 percent share of the corporate travel market over the reporting period, coinciding with a resurgence in demand.
“The high half-yearly earnings reported by Qantas Group reflect its dominance of the domestic airline sector, with Qantas and Jetstar accounting for over 60 percent of passengers,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
The domestic operations of Jetstar recorded the biggest increase in earnings across the Qantas Group, increasing by 53.7 percent between the first half 2023-24 and 2024-25, to AUD 269 million. Jetstar Domestic became the sole low-cost carrier in Australia after the exit of Tigerair in 2020, and again when Bonza collapsed in April 2024.
“Jetstar has been able to capitalise on the continued absence of competitive pressure from another low-cost carrier in the domestic market to increase its market share and operating margin,” Brakey said.
While Virgin Australia does not publicly report half-year results, its then CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka, said in February that the airline group had achieved record profits in the first half of the current financial year, following its post-administration restructure under Bain Capital.
After the withdrawal of Rex from routes connecting capital cities, Virgin Australia has increased its share of passengers to 34.4 percent in March 2025, up from 31.3 percent from a year prior. Virgin Australia also secured three of Rex’s Boeing 737 aircraft leases, which has facilitated its ability to add seat capacity and improve network resilience.
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