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In Australian Service – Boeing 747
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Boeing 747 Part II
Part Twenty Eight in a Series Examining the Airliners That Established Civil Aviation in Australia
To increase fleet utilisation and lift market share in a flat economic time, Qantas initiated some innovative marketing strategies early in 1972. One of these was to offer a new low cost fare to London and Europe via Singapore for $420 or via the US for $438 with a return fare available for $700. The response to the low cost London fares was enormous with the traffic on the Kangaroo Route increasing by 230% after the first year of operation. The tide had turned and the 747 now found itself the perfect aircraft to cope with the upsurge in patronage.
Another extremely popular venture was the establishment of Jetabout tours in 1972 which offered low cost but high quality tours to Asia. These offered a one week holiday in Singapore including airfare, accommodation and other extras for $299 with the option available to extend the holiday for an extra week to Kuala Lumpur and Penang for an additional $100. I flew on the second Jetabout tour to Singapore and Malaysia during October 1972 and like everyone else was most impressed by the quality of the accommodation and the overall arrangements. The success of Jetabout was one of the reasons for an 18% increase in load factor over the previous year. The introduction of the 747 fleet enabled 707s to be released for these ventures but such was the success of Jetabout, passengers were also carried on regular 747 flights. The story continued the following year with passenger loads up a further 32% during 1973.
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