Virgin Australia’s domestic passenger numbers increased by almost 8% in April compared to a 3.1% fall at Qantas.
But substantial rises in Virgin’s capacity – largely the result of the introduction of new, larger aircraft – saw revenue-load factors fall in both domestic and international operations.
Overall, Virgin managed a 6.7% rise in group passenger numbers, outstripping a 6.1% rise in global passenger demand for April.
This compared with a Qantas group increase of 4.6%, fuelled by growth at Jetstar and QantasLink, but a 3.1% drop at Qantas domestic and 2.1% fall at Qantas international.
An 8.5% rise in Virgin Australia group capacity saw load factors down 3.6 percentage points to 77% while a strong 15% increase in domestic capacity cut load factors in that market by 4.1 points to 77.1%.
International passenger numbers fell 1.4% and revenue load factors were also down by 3.4 points to 76.9%.
Meanwhile Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Airways has confirmed the acquisition of a 3.96% stake in Virgin Australia’s domestic business through several recent purchases on the open market.
