The prospect of booking a return flight from Sydney to New York for A$969 – about half the price of the lowest fare a few years ago – is great news for travellers. But the latest special on Air Canada from Flight Centre, which comes after American Airlines recently offered $860 return fares from Sydney to New York via Webjet, is not viewed as positively by shareholders in airlines such as Qantas. Qantas, the largest player on the trans-Pacific route, last month warned revenue per available seat kilometre in its international business had fallen in March due to more competitive pricing on routes including the US and UK, and was down for the financial year to date.<br/>"While competitor airlines are investing more of their fuel benefits into lower pricing, this is also suggesting the demand profile has also weakened from the US and UK," Citi analyst Anthony Moulder said. Qantas last month shifted some of its US capacity to Singapore and Hong Kong as had been planned since November, when it became apparent the trans-Pacific market was becoming more competitive. CE Alan Joyce Friday attempted to play down concerns about the very low trans-Pacific fares, the lowest of which have been offered by airlines other than Qantas. The lowest return economy class Sydney-New York fare on offer on Qantas' website on Tuesday was $1621, down from $2310 on Monday but still hundreds of dollars more than some rivals. "We have always had periods of time where there are selective low airfares and promotional fares," he said. "Recently on Melbourne-Sydney we have had airfares as low as $69. It happens generally when people want to promote weak times and weak demand ... [But] Qantas always maintains a yield premium over competitors domestically and internationally."<br/>