In Reply to: agree with saxon - posted by Fly boy on Tuesday, 31. January 2006 at 16:25 Bali Time:
Hi There Fly Boy,
Would have been a convincing argument apart from a couple of small details. Air fares on the Aust/US Pacific routes are very reasonable on a dollar/seat/mile basis, arguably better than the prices available on the Aust/Bali route. Also, and I don't want to be overly critical, at the moment QANTAS, United Airlines, American Airlines, Hawaiin Airlines and Air Canada (via Honolulu) are all flying the Aust/US route so there is plenty of competition. This can be verified by checking the departures from Sydney today. Other US bound flights also depart from Melbourne and Brisbane not to mention other major carriers who make an initial transit stop on the way at their own home bases. Again, it could be that if QANTAS was the only airline flying this route the fares might be higher but this is, clearly, not the case. It is true that QANTAS does not wan't SQ in direct competition on this route and, so far, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has not granted Sq the requisite approvals. However, if such approvals are ever given that would result in more competition but not necessarily lower fares as competition is already quite fierce and lowering fares might be the straw that broke the camels, or buffalos, back. We have already seen it happen. So, in short, I don't believe that there is any evidence provided by looking at the US routes as you have suggested.
Cheers
Maverick