Qantas VS Virgin: People’s choice

Qantas VS Virgin: People’s choice
By Hannah Edensor


Qantas has hit new heights when it comes to customer satisfaction, maintaining a solid lead over its main competitor, Virgin Australia.

Since Qantas won the Domestic Airline and Domestic Business Airline of the Year in the 2014 Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards, it has moved from strength to strength in the eyes of Aussies.

In the quarter to February 2015, Roy Morgan recorded an 87% satisfaction rating ahead of Virgin, who sat on 75%.

While male passengers (86%) are more likely than female (80%) to be satisfied with Qantas’ business offering, the reverse is true for Virgin, with 91% of women and 66% of men finding themselves satisfied.

The playing field is more crowded for international airlines, but Singapore Airlines shows little sign of being challenged for top spot, sitting up in the top wrung with an impressive 90% rating, ahead of Emirates (87%), Qantas (83%) and Garuda (82%).

“There is a lot at stake when it comes to international air travel,” Roy Morgan Research’s ceo Michele Levine said.

“Flights generally (but not always) take longer than domestic routes, and details that might be forgiven on a short 90-minute trip on greater importance.

“The quality of in-flight entertainment, seat comfort, meals and even other passengers can all impact dramatically on satisfaction levels – making Singapore Airlines’ consistently high results all the more impressive.”

“Qantas, meanwhile, continue to triumph in the domestic air travel categories, impressing business and leisure passengers alike. Even on shorter flights, there is plenty of scope to make the journey enjoyable, and Qantas has clearly mastered this art.”

Roy Morgan aggregated 12 months of responses to the Consumer Single Source and Business Single Source surveys, enabling them to identify the airlines that outperform competitors when it comes to the satisfaction and contentment of customers.

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