I was just about to go to bed when I was reading this article by Kevin Arnold on the Dallas Morning News about DFW Airport’s most valuable airline routes. I was scrolling through the article when I came upon a chart which showed that a once daily flight from DFW-Sydney on Qantas actually brings in more revenue to an airline than the 5 flights a day service from DFW to London-Heathrow on BA/AA. While the DFW-London route made $420 million with 5 daily flights on average, the DFW-Sydney route made $428.3 million off of just 1 daily flight albeit on an Airbus A380.
My Thoughts:
I’m not sure why it caught me by surprise given that there are currently no nonstop flights between New York and Sydney and the incredible amount of connecting traffic that goes through DFW. Let’s also not forget that DFW and Sydney are both Oneworld hubs meaning that the connection opportunities on both ends outweigh anything offered at LAX or SFO.
While OAG releases information regarding the most profitable airline routes without charging money, other data must be paid for via subscription. I for one would love to see the numbers on SFO-SYD/MEL as well as LAX-SYD/MEL/BNE. Having these numbers would indicate just how many passengers are connecting through DFW from the Big Apple. I bet the numbers are staggeringly high.
It’s certainly sad that the current government has allowed for the joint venture between AA and Qantas, which can certainly be deemed a monopoly. This will no doubt stifle competition in the market and surely keep the rates high.The only real hope for any competition is Air New Zealand, which is showing some spark in life by recently beating Qantas to the punch at Newark. With that being said, I don’t really think AA would’ve had the guts to serve Auckland from DFW without the protection given to it by the joint venture.agreement. Comes to show just how scared management at AA/QF must be to cede any part of this treasure trove to other airlines.
Lastly, there is no denying the fact that both the U.S and Australia are extremely wealthy nations. As of 2019, Australians have the second highest median wealth per adult, while Americans possess nearly 1/3 of total global wealth. As such it makes sense that flights to Sydney and New York appear quite a bit on world’s most profitable airline routes and very often see the best business class products to these markets.
Anyway I rant, but these are interesting facts to take a look at occasionally. Good Night!
Why do you think the DFW-SYD route is so profitable for Qantas? Any additional thoughts?
