Qantas domestic network recovers to pre-pandemic levels

Qantas has seen its domestic market share increase from pre-pandemic levels, at the expense of rival Virgin Australia, which entered — and subsequently exited from —administration amid the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. In a report on domestic airline competition, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says Qantas’ market share as at December 2020 was at 74%, up from the 60% share it held in December 2019. Compared to September 2020, however, Qantas saw its market share dip slightly, down from 76% that month. The ACCC also notes that Qantas retained the lion’s share on flights between regional destinations, at close to 90% in December 2020. This was comparable to its pre-pandemic market share. Qantas also operated more routes — 114 domestic routes — in December 2020 than it did the previous year, the only Australian carrier to have reported network growth from pre-pandemic levels. <br/>