Students of marketing are taught that a company is nothing without a unique selling point or USP. Without something to set you apart from the competition, your business plan is pretty much worthless.
Qantas made a bold play by opening up the first non-stop flights between Australia and Europe with their Perth to London service. Since it began, it has been a major success for the Aussie carrier.
A Unique Selling Point Translates Into Profit
After six months of service, the new route was reported to be highly successful. Now that an entire year has passed, the numbers have been issued and they paint a very rosy picture.
Profitable almost immediately, load factors on the route averaged 94%. This means the flights are going out full in both directions virtually all the time. Airlines would generally kill for those kind of numbers and Qantas had that out of the gate.
The argument that passengers would not like an ultra long-haul flight is blown out of the water. Clearly people expect a long journey between the two continents and stopping along the way adds hassle that people would rather avoid. This is underscored by the fact Perth to London has the highest customer satisfaction scores at the airline.
Unsurprisingly, most passengers book their flights from Australia and the United Kingdom, with a decent amount also connecting from other European countries. It is the fastest way Down Under from Europe.
Qantas is banking on the unique selling point carrying it into the future. Project Sunrise at the airline aims to get an aircraft that can fly from Australia’s east coast – that’s Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – non-stop to Europe and the east coast of the USA. These flights are slated to begin in 2022.
Overall Thoughts
Full details on the route’s performance after one year of operation are available in the Qantas press release. It is unusual for an airline to give such specific detail on a single route, but this one is worth crowing about.
The success of the Perth to London service bodes well for the future. With the Australian east coast cities covering the majority of the population – and with the cities being more than twice the size of Perth – the bet that Project Sunrise will be a success looks like a good one. It proves that marketing theory on the importance of a USP is correct.
What do you think of the Qantas Perth to London service and future Project Sunrise plan? Have you flown this flight? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Mertie via Wikimedia Commons.
Other images via Qantas.
I thought the USP was that they have not lost any airframes or lives due to crashes. 🙂
Haha – well, that would make it two then 🙂
While I’m glad for Qantas, I think that I’d be extremely wary of flying that far in a plane that’s almost always packed. The length of the flight would be very tough in coach if the seats are not slimline. I don’t know whether they’ve spared the customers in this respect or not. Any idea? Last month, my wife asked me why it hurt to sit on a 2 hour flight. It was her first slimline experience.
It would be very tough if they were slimline, however the customer satisfaction scores point to it being comfortable. Qantas did a lot of research before the flight regarding food options and what not, in order to maximise passenger comfort. It would be hideous if it was slimline and having dissatisfied customers would ruin the whole route, so I think people are safe enough on board. Thanks for the comment!