Pilotcenter.net News has reported on the latest findings by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding the performance of major airlines in the country. According to the ACCC's report released on May 20, 2025, both Qantas Group and Virgin Australia have seen significant profits in the first half of 2024-25 thanks to robust demand for domestic flights and limited competition in the market.

Qantas Group reported an impressive underlying EBIT of $916 million from its domestic operations and $1.5 billion from overall operations, while Virgin Australia boasted of achieving "record profits." Notably, Qantas dominated the business-purpose travel segment, accounting for a significant portion of corporate and small to medium-sized enterprise segment traffic during this period.

Virgin Australia's financial performance saw a notable improvement following a strategic overhaul post-administration under Bain Capital, which involved streamlining operations and reducing international flights. The airline is now gearing up for a potential initial public offering in June 2025 and is expanding its international services in partnership with Qatar Airways, with 28 new weekly return flights between Australia and Doha set to commence from June 2025.

The ACCC also highlighted positive trends in the industry's on-time arrival rates and load factors, with the average on-time arrival rate in Australia improving to 80.2% in March 2025. Load factors have remained above 80% for the past eight months, with Jetstar leading the pack with a seat occupancy rate of 91.2% in January 2025. Despite a dip in average revenue per passenger in early 2025, there was a subsequent increase by March of the same year, indicating a positive trend in the aviation sector.

Overall, it seems that both Qantas Group and Virgin Australia are riding the wave of strong demand and favorable market conditions to deliver robust financial performances, setting a positive outlook for the future of the domestic airline sector in Australia.