Re: NSW Chamber of Commerce supports VHST

[dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

Richard (richard_snook@primus.com.au) won a Nobel Prize for literature by writing:
> Firstly ..why would this neceessitate job losses...Qantas would probably
> redirect "Air" resources into other routes and services.

It would actually generate jobs as Qantas would have to establish counters
at Central and the Canberra Ariport statsion, and maybe also at
Campbelltown and Goulburn. This would mirror British Airways which now has
a counter at Paddington for the Heathrow Express.

> Secondly ..this asumption is on the basis that bums on any seats between Melb
> and Syd would stagnate.

French experience suggests that high speed trains causes an explosion in
passenger numbers. Paris - Lyon traffic was 1.5 million in 1980, 3.5
million in 1982 and 25 million in 1996.

Speedrail will have one advantage voer SNCF is that you'll be able to gain
and redeem Qantas frequent flyer points on the train.

> I would be very interested to know the realtive profitability of Melb-Syd for
> Qantas compared to other domestic routes.

MEL-SYD is one of the most profitable city pair routes in the world, and
is the third busiest in the world. It's also very near saturation. Both
airlines run near enough to a half hourly service on weekdays, many
flights with wide body 767s. It's near enough to impossible to add more
flights as Sydney airport is near saturation, especially at peak times.

SYD-BNE is about what SYD-MEL was in the mid-80s.

MEL-CBR is actually busier than SYD-CBR.

Cheers
David