This might well be the shortest article ever from me. Not quite a haiku, perhaps, but not far off either.

Next month I travel to Auckland for a conference and have been searching for return flights from the Gold Coast (my nearest international airport). The only two airlines that operate direct services on that route are Air New Zealand and Jetstar.

As everyone knows, Jetstar is the cut price version of Qantas, with service to match. Of course, as one would expect, Jetstar is substantially cheaper – less than half as costly – as the Air New Zealand (Air NZ) flight. It was $1,173 and Jetstar flight was only $490.

What really grabbed my attention, however, is that a Qantas option also came up. It was a whopping $2,893. Then I looked closely and realised that it was actually the same flight as the Jetstar flight but look at the fare difference. The same flight with the same plane, the same air crew and cabin service costs nearly six times as much as the Jetstar flight, and 2.5 times as much as the Air New Zealand flight.

On top of this, Air NZ is now ranked higher than Qantas by some agencies. Last month, AirinesRating.com published the 2023 rankings. Their Airline Excellence Awards is judged by five editors with decades of industry experience and combines major safety and government audits with 11 key criteria, including passenger reviews, fleet age, profitability, investment rating, product offerings, and staff relations.

Air NZ rated first overall in the world, followed by Qatar. Qantas ranked sixth. By class of cabin, Air NZ was best in Economy, Qatar in Business, and Singapore Airlines in First.

Hence my plea to the economists among Speccie writers and readers. Can someone please explain to me the economic logic and reasoning behind this, before the question drives me batty? I’m looking at you, Judith Sloan. Or is this the snob value of bragging rights for having flown Qantas? I’ll give it a miss.