Qantas will offer discount fares to small and medium business owners in an effort to shore up its share of the crucial premium traveller market.
The airline has announced a 10% discount on business, premium economy and flexible economy fares for flights booked through its small and medium enterprise-focused Aquire loyalty program, which it launched last year to help protect and grow its share of the business market.
Rival Virgin has spent the past five years trying to hack away at Qantas’s dominance of the lucrative business traveller segment by increasing its premium offering and beefing up its loyalty program.
Qantas claims to hold around 80 per cent of the corporate travel market – though Morgan Stanley put the figure at 60 per cent – but does not provide details of its slice in the more price-sensitive small business market.
The head of the airline’s loyalty business, Lesley Grant, says the discount would equate to a saving of $950 on a return business class fare from Melbourne to London and $150 on return flexible economy far from Sydney to Perth.
SEE WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING