Originally Posted by
N1Rotate
Loads have dropped and so have yields, its very noticeable in some markets. Also QR lost some important markets especially UAE and Saudi. Future growth will be constrained without these markets, and the inability to overfly Saudi will make future growth into parts of Africa and South America not feasible.
Its important though not to judge on anecdotal evidence....
But, sadly, all our evidence
is anecdotal: route analysis pulling in capacity, load and yields isn't going to fall into our laps. As you say, while passenger numbers alone are interesting, they tell us little about what is going on.
On the Saudi front, a week or so back there were rumours spinning round that KSA was going to allow overflights at a price - essentially fining QR rather than hamstringing its operations. But I heard no more about that last week in Doha.
Back to anecdote, but BA anecdote
Last week's LHR DOH was weak in all classes (a joy in economy!) but rammed on the way back. That I think reflects November travel patterns, though perhaps more acutely than most years.