Qatar Airways says excess capacity putting pressure on fares

Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Officer Thierry Antinori said the carrier is experiencing some pressure on airfares as rivals particularly in southeast Asia and Australia pump more capacity into the market and the post-pandemic travel rebound begins to moderate. “The seat factor has stayed high, so we’re able to generate traffic in line with our seat growth, but we have pressure on yields because we have more capacity in the market, and maybe a bit less of a catch-up effect in general,” Antinori said in an interview in Hamburg, a day after the airline began its daily direct service to the northern German city from its hub in Doha. Antinori said the pressure points are most noticeable in business that’s eastbound from Doha, while operations into the western hemisphere are “quite stable.” Business is also steady into Africa, where Qatar Airways has opened several new routes, including to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last month. Part of the yield pressure is down to some major carriers in southeast Asia showing growth of as much as 40% that’s adding capacity at a time when the post-Covid pent up demand for travel is “normalizing,” Antinori said. Still, capacity is partly being kept in check as airlines are not getting new aircraft at the rate that they’ve ordered, he said, because jet manufacturers Airbus SE and Boeing Co. are struggling to ramp up output. The company continues to do very well in its cargo operations, Antinori said. Business into markets like Paris has remained strong, Antinori said, with close-to-full occupancy on the four daily flights the airline operates into the French capital.<br/>