WEBVTT - Qatar Airways named world’s best airline 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.880 Kata Airways has been named the World's Best Airline betweenty 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:03.720 twenty five at the. 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:06.199 Annual World Airline Awards. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:08.520 This is the second year in a row that Kata 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:10.600 has been named the world's best. 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.360 Ellis Taylor, He's our aviation expert. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.400 He's the Asia Dashboard editor at Syrium, and he joins 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:19.000 me live on six PR this afternoon. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.799 Get a Ellis get a early, Good to be with you, 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:23.360 Good to have you. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.800 On the show today. Ellis what makes Katar better than 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:26.240 the rest? 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.080 Well, I think a lot of people really enjoy the 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.360 fact that they've got a very strong business class. The 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.599 Q sweet seats sort of seemed to be a cut 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.960 above the rest. I can't comment personally, I haven't flown them, 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:43.520 but it's what we've often seen with the Middle Eastern 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:45.800 carriers is they'll really focus in on the sort of 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:50.320 this halo product of like a really banging business class seat, 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.800 a great experience in that cabin, and for the rest 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.920 of us who don't travel in business, the feeling is 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:58.480 that there's a bit of a halo and that some 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.800 of that fairy dust I guess travels down into economy 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.280 class and so forth, So you know, fair play to them. 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:08.360 They this is an award that they've won consistently. You know, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.039 everybody I know who's flown on kata sort of has 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.319 been a consistently great experience. So it really seems to 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.000 be that they have struck some good thoughts, which is 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.160 all good until I guess the next person comes along 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:20.839 and tries to one up them. 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.400 CAT first, Singapore second in the rankings this year, Cathay 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.880 Pacific third, which I'll come to in more details shortly, Emirates, 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.920 and then all nip On Airways rounding out the top five. 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:33.560 Does that sound about right to you? 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.960 Ellis, Yes, I think so. And you know, I guess 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.479 the standout in that is Cathe Pacific. You know, after 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:43.959 COVID they were criticized for I guess coming back a 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.160 little bit cautiously and you know, not having things to 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.680 the same level they had pre COVID, But they now 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.040 seem to have gotten above that and begetting I guess 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.440 back into the swing of things. So, you know, Singapore 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.880 Airlines is always a class act, no matter what CA 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.800 and you're in. And obviously you know, very big carrier 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.720 here into WA carries a lot of people to Singapore 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.520 and also well beyond and a lot of tourists coming 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.640 on that. And similarly A and A is a very 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:18.240 good experience, just good Japanese carrier again flies to Wa 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.000 and provides us a really good connection up to Japan. 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:23.919 Yeah, probably a bit of a surprise A and A 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.640 makes the top five because Quanus is number fourteen. 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.240 It was twenty four last year. 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.359 It shows you how much the national carrier is falling 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.760 compared to how it was viewed pre COVID Dellus. 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.160 Yeah, and I think, look, let's be fair, skytracks goes 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.440 off of passenger surveys and so generally I think there's 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.120 a bit of bias with surveys where if you've had 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.000 a bad experience you kind of mark everything down harshly, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.200 and if you've had a good experience, it might be well, 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.520 just good, or a few would go to the excellent 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:57.680 sort of things. And you know, there's a bit of 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.760 a national sport, isn't there about hating Quatus. But you know, 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.799 again they're a carrier which has been through a lot 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:09.520 of issues with its lead, with it's getting aircraft back 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.560 up through the air and so forth, and so you 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:15.000 know they're starting to get better at that. And I 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.760 think you know, in time, well, those improvements will only 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.040 just grow and grow and they'll probably head further up 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:21.480 that list. 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.760 Yeah, I think these are always subjective anyway, these poles, 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.880 aren't they lis because people might be using airlines based 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.040 on the fact that they are a partner airline of 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.239 another airline that they win frequent Well when I say 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:36.040 win that they accumulate frequent fly miles with or it 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:37.680 might just be there was a good deal on that 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:38.680 particular route. 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.800 So it's always very subjective. 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.840 The Middle Eastern airlines, the Asian airlines do seem to 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:49.080 dominate because they seem to be the takeoff points really 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.480 for lots of global destinations. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.160 Well, that's right, and you know, it's one of these 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:57.680 things that there is no perfect system. It is always 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.640 going to be sort of subjective. And you know, in 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.120 some ways that's the benefit of awards like skytracks or 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.520 even you know, Google reviews and so on, is at 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.520 least you're getting sort of people's thoughts and opinions as 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.880 opposed to just say data on what the spacing between 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:14.920 the seats is or you know, what type of trade 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.479 table it is and that kind of a thing. So 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.560 you know, that's not to say they're not helpful, but 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.760 you know, it is also one of those things where 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:25.080 you know you can't necessarily hold it up to scientific scrutiny. 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.000 If you want to go that way, one double three 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:30.960 eight eighty two, what's the best airline you have traveled on? 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.760 One double three eight eighty two, what's your favorite airline 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:34.920 in the world. 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:36.080 You're touched on? 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.520 Cathay Are They're going to be doubling their daily services between. 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.599 Hong Kong and Perth from November. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.720 That's a good shot in the arm for local and 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:45.279 international tourism. Elis. 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:46.760 Yeah. 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.800 Absolutely, anytime we get one of these big carriers that 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.640 putting more services onto their hub airport, it really is 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.120 a big win. Particularly for going to double daily. Is 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.680 that actually opens up a whole lot of other connections 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.240 that you can get. I mean, I think a lot 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.719 of us would have probably experienced where you go on 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.159 a flight to somewhere and you get a nice easy 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.240 connection one way where it might be sort of you know, 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.400 only an hour or two layer for in the airport, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:13.520 and then coming back it might be ten hours, it 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.480 might even be a day. So having two flights today 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.880 really shortens that time, and you know, Conversely, that also 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.480 works for tourists who are coming into WA when it's 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:26.000 going to be more convenient to do that. It makes 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.680 it a more appealing flight. And for Cafe they've got 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:32.000 good services into Canada and North America. It's a really 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.479 good connection from Perth, so that's going to be a boom. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:36.560 I think both ways. 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.280 The federal government's also going to provide a further thirty 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:42.599 million dollars to keep REX Airlines of float. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.160 I see Catherine King, the federal Transport Minister. 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.600 To say today indicating that they're getting closer to finding 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:52.480 a buyer for the airline, which is your administration less. 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.320 Is this all that the government could do? We can't 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.599 have REX fhalan. It's not just about regional Western Australian flights. 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.200 There's a whole eb of re in the Eastern States 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.800 which will be affected if RIX were to be granted 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:04.159 for good. 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.600 Yeah. Absolutely, and I think this is actually quite a 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.880 positive story. The other part that goes with it is 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.000 that the administrators have said, look, we've received a number 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.320 of bits of interest and we're whittling them down and 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:22.000 starting negotiations, but we need to extend the administration and 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.200 so therefore they need to sort of have some additional 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:28.159 backstop funding I guess, to keep the airline operating whilst 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.240 they go through this, and they're looking to extend that 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:35.279 out to December. So, you know, I think a few 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.480 months back the government was making sort of big noises 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.280 that look, if nobody comes forward to buy REX, then 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:45.320 we'll effectively nationalize it. And I think that that's a 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.880 bad idea from a policy perspective, particularly when we do 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.159 have other airlines in different parts of Australia who are 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.400 sort of willing and able to step in. But you know, 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.440 this sort of says that there's enough interest out there 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.760 to keep REX going. And ultimately, i'd imagine that any 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:04.840 bidder is going to want to grow it now, whether 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.200 that means it grows it as a regional airlines still 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.720 or if they want to throw the dice and go 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.800 back onto mainline routes. You know, that'll be interesting to 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.640 see them. We'll only know once that transaction goes ahead. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.880 But yeah, the upshot is it looks like we're going 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:21.679 to have a private REX in the future. 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:26.120 Yeah, and is Nexus one of those airlines which may 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.960 be looking at purchasing the WA services or being part 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.440 of some sort of conglomerate which may own the airline, 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:33.480 which may flight out of administration. 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:34.120 Ellis. 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.679 Yeah, there's been some discussion in particularly the Financial Review 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:43.320 has sort of mentioned them as being potentially interested. I 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.840 haven't been able to force that myself, but there is 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.920 some sense to that. I mean, it's been on record 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.120 that Nexus has looked at those routes in the past 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:58.160 in WA, so you know, maybe they could end up 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.680 in there. I mean, really, we are just in some 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:03.680 ways at the start of a process, and these things 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.480 can become quite convoluted. You know, four bidders can turn 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.680 into one quickly, and sometimes it'll be all four bitters 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:13.120 going together, and you know it'll be interesting to see 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.680 what emerges. But it's not going to be a quick deal. Really. 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:17.120 It's going to be towards the end of the year 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.560 is when we'll find out who's going to own it, 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.560 and then probably it will then take another guessing, you know, 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.080 a year or two for a content strategy to kind 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:26.920 of emerge from that. 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.120 Good on you LUs always appreciate your time and you're 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:31.840 very good to us. 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:32.840 Thank you very much. 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:35.199 No worries, Ollie, enjoy the match.