Face-to-Face: Nick McGlynn

Qantas’ regional general manager for Asia, Nick McGlynn, chats with Travel Daily about the airline’s regional plans…

Q)    How have Qantas’ Hong Kong routes performed since the re-routing of the ‘Kangaroo Route’ flights?

Following the launch of our new Asia schedule on 31 March this year, Qantas services to Hong Kong are performing well, and in line with our expectations. With the restructure of our Asia schedule, we have added 10 per cent more dedicated seats between Australia to Hong Kong. We knew we would need to grow into the additional capacity and the market has responded well. We’re also getting good feedback from our customers on the A380 services.

In response to strong demand over the Chinese New Year period, Qantas has published supplementary Sydney-Hong Kong services. Additionally, all services between 7 January and 26 February 2014 will be upgraded to A380 aircraft, providing customers with a daily A380 service during this peak travel period.

Q)    What is Qantas doing to bolster its Hong Kong routes, in the wake of the Emirates tie-up?

The partnership with Emirates has enabled Qantas to strengthen its network across Asia. Redirecting our London services via Dubai means we have been able to restructure our Asian schedule to meet the specific demands for the region, and not the through traffic to London.

Our aim is to the provide the best travel options between Australia and Asia which includes seamless connections with our partner airlines including Jetstar Asia, and all linked to one of the world’s leading frequent flyer programmes. Our new, improved Asian schedule provides better access to the region and improved onward connections for business customers. With stronger links to the key hubs in the region, we now offer 10% more dedicated capacity on our Hong Kong services.

Qantas also recently announced an upgrade of one return Sydney-Hong Kong service to an Airbus A380 aircraft, increasing the number of A380 return services on this route from four to five per week. From 4 November, customers will enjoy being able to fly on the flagship A380 aircraft more often.

Q)    China is clearly an important market for Australian tourism. How is Qantas working with its partners to drive traffic from this market?

Qantas recognises the profound importance of China within the regional economy and aviation market, and continues to build strong links with the region. Qantas works closely with China National Tourism and individual Australian state tourism organisations to grow tourism between China and Australia, and is a member of the China Industry Advisory Group, which facilitates trade through industry training, education and occupational programmes.

As a sponsor of Austcham, Qantas sponsors both local and expatriate events, fostering social, community and cultural exchanges. Qantas is investing heavily in China and continues to deliver innovative products and the highest levels of customer service in the market. Customers in the region now have access to Qantas products such as the Frequent Flyer program and qantas.com, which is available in simplified and traditional Chinese.

Qantas International is committed to strengthening its presence in Asia. In April, Qantas announced a significant expansion of its codeshare agreement with China Eastern, providing customers better access to major cities in China and meeting strong demand from the business market. Qantas now offers codeshare services on China Eastern’s daily Melbourne-Shanghai services as well as its Sydney-Nanjing-Beijing services, which operate three times per week.

Our strategy is to provide the best possible product and service on routes to major Asian hubs – and to extend our network through the right partners.

Q)    What further developments can we expect from Qantas in the Chinese market?

We recognise the growth in China, particularly in the small and medium cities, and we are well positioned to capitalise on this. In April this year we announced a significant expansion of our codeshare agreement with China Eastern Airlines.

We are building on our strong relationship with China Eastern to support growing corporate travel and tourism between Australia and China. China Eastern and Qantas have worked together since our first codeshare agreement in 2008 and more recently on our Jetstar Hong Kong joint venture. We are very pleased to be strengthening this partnership.

We have recently revealed the new interiors that will feature on our upgraded A330-300s, which will operate on key Asian routes including Sydney-Shanghai. The new business class seats, which can be left in a recline position for take-off and landing, will be a key point of difference between Qantas and other carriers flying into Asia. The upgraded A330 aircraft will be introduced from late 2014.

The continued investment in product and service demonstrates our commitment to making Qantas International the best for global travellers. Our lounge upgrades will deliver on this; the new premium lounge in Singapore has received fantastic feedback from our customers and is a sign of the good things to come with the new lounge due to open in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2014.

We continue to look at ways we can improve the experience for our customers, and innovate and simplify where possible.