The Zeppelin Times 4CRB Travel Show...The total revenue Qantas earned on the MEL-SYD route between April 2017 and March 2018 was USD 854,692,402, according to OAG. When converted to

MEL-SYD most lucrative route in world – except for oneQantas earns well over AUD 32,000 an hour flying Melbourne-Sydney, according to flight schedule experts OAG, making the air route the world’s top revenue generator – except for one.

A list of the top 10 air routes in the world, arranged by OAG in order of the revenue they produce, says that Qantas earned an average USD 24,237 (AUD 32,850) flying between Melbourne and Sydney, flying the route for 35,264 hours between April 2017 and March 2018.

OAG, which combined its flight schedules and traffic data to create the list, points out that all the Top 10 routes are also high-cost operations, combining generally wide-bodied services with high frequency. In the case of MEL-SYD, Qantas operates about 65 flights a day on just that one route.

“Typically, these routes also include a high proportion of business traffic, later booking and higher yielding in nature,” says OAG’s John Grant.

“Whilst the cost of operating may be high, at least the revenues are likely to be even higher!”

The total revenue Qantas earned on the MEL-SYD route between April 2017 and March 2018 was USD 854,692,402, according to OAG. When converted to AUD, that breaks the billion-dollar mark, coming in at about AUD 1.16 billion.

Globally, only one route breaks the billion-dollar threshold in US dollars – and that’s the British Airways LHR–JFK service, which accounted for about 6% of BA’s total revenue in 2017. It’s the world’s most lucrative route. It also happens to be the only route that the supersonic Concorde, BA’s former flagship, could operate profitably.

On an hourly basis, the USD 1,037,724,867 BA earned on annually

on LHR–JFK equates to USD 24,639, which narrowly beats the Qantas hourly rate for Sydney-Melbourne and yet, amazingly, is still not quite the highest hourly earner. That accolade goes to the Emirates LHR-DXB service, which earned the Dubai-based carrier USD 25,308 an hour in the year concerned. The Heathrow-Dubai route ranks third in OAG’s Top 10.

Incredibly, five of the top 10 revenue earners are either to or from London Heathrow, which Grant says may explain the ongoing debate about Heathrow’s third runway, with the increased competition damaging those lucrative earners.

“And in the same vein perhaps the OneWorld Alliance needs to find a sub-brand for its Heathrow services since three of the world’s top 10 revenue generators share Heathrow in common,” he says.

The Top 10 routes, in order of total revenue generation, are:

British Airways JFK-LHRQantas Airways MEL-SYDEmirates LHR-DXBSingapore Airlines LHR-SINAmerican Airlines LAX-JFKUnited Airlines SFO-EWRCathay Pacific HKG-LHRQatar Airways LHR-DOHAir Canada YVR-YYZ

The Zeppelin Times 4CRB Travel ShowSaturday 14 July, 10am on 89.3FM

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SOUTH AFRICA

BOTSWANA

ZAMBIA

ZIMBABWENAMIBIA

LESOTHO

SWAZILAND

MOZMBIQUE

KENYA

Amboseli

NairobiLake Naivasha

Masai Mara

TANZANIA

Victoria Falls

Nelspruit

Modiltlo

Port ElizabethKnysna

Outshoorn

Cape Town

Hoesdspruit

Livingstone

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Australia learns of Nepal’s ambitious tourism targetNepal is going all out to attract Australian tourists, aiming to boost Australian visitation by 200% over the next three years to reach 100,000 Australian tourists by 2020.

Last year, 33,371 Australians visited Nepal, according to Nepal Government figures, an increase of 141% over the nine years since 2008.

2020 has been designated ‘Visit Nepal Year’, with the country’s tourism authorities aiming to attract 2 million tourists in that year.

Government of Nepal expert and adviser, Laxman Gautam, told a gathering of travel journalists in Sydney yesterday that everything in Nepal had settled down and the country was getting fully into the business of attracting tourists. Representatives of the Nepal Tourism Board and the Hotel Association of Nepal are in Australia for a series of three travel agent sales missions.

Anzac Day this year marked exactly three years since a devastating earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, ripped through Nepal. It was followed two weeks later by another quake with a magnitude of 7.3. The two killed nearly 9000 people, injured 22,000 and left several million people without homes.

The disaster also had a serious impact on tourism, with local guides throughout Nepal being out of work for up to seven months after the quake, even in areas far from the earthquake damage.

The country is now back on its feet and keen for more tourists – repeat visitors as well as first timers.

“We have settled all issues that were outstanding in the past,” Gautam said.

He said the country’s new tourism slogan was ‘Naturally Nepal. Once is not enough!’ He referred to one tourist in his 70s who had visited Nepal 93 times and is keen to return. The country also wants to attract new tourists and to tell them about the real Nepal.

“Some people refer to Nepal as the land of mountains and consider that there is nothing there but mountains. That is just not true!” Gautam declared.

He said Nepal, a landlocked nation between India and China, has 133 languages and dialects. Its population is about 29 million. It has Mount Everest, but it also has big lush subtropical rainforest areas. Not that there’s any shortage of mountains – there are 3809 peaks over 5500 metres high and nine peaks over 8000 metres high.

Nepal also has the world’s only living goddess: Kumari, or Kumari Devi. The Living Goddess is worshipped as a manifestation of the divine female energy or devi in Hindu religious tradition. The word Kumari is derived from the Sanskrit Kaumarya, meaning “princess”.

The country has the one-horned rhino, spectacular rhododendron displays and the extraordinary danphe or Himalayan monal,



the national bird of Nepal.

Gautam said every state in Australia had a Nepalese consulate so obtaining a visa was easy – or Australians could choose to obtain a visa on arrival. There were numerous air links between the two countries and even discussions of setting up a direct air service, he said.

Visit Nepal Year was originally planned for 2018 but was deferred so work on airports, heritage sites and roads could be completed.

The major source countries of tourists to Nepal are India, China, the US, Britain and Sri Lanka.

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Longest lunar eclipse this century in two weeks

A lunar eclipse coming up later this month, the longest this century, will turn the moon blood red – but it’s unlikely to contribute much to ‘eclipse tourism’.

Australians will be in a prime position to view it but eclipse tourism generally centres around solar eclipses, which are rarer than lunar eclipses, though the moon can put on a good show too – weather permitting.

Saturday 28 July 2018 will see longest lunar eclipse of this century – with the penumbral eclipse lasting 236 minutes, or slightly less than four hours.

A penumbral eclipse is when the outer shadow of Earth falls on the moon’s face.

For those in Australia’s eastern states, witnessing the event will involve getting up early – or not going to bed – as it starts at about 3.15am and the partial

eclipse begins at 4.24am, before the full eclipse at 5.30am. The maximum will be at 6.21am but the sky is getting light by then and the moon will be very low on the horizon and will then dip below it.

For those in Australia’s west, all of those times are two hours earlier.

Total lunar eclipses lasting over 100 minutes are due in 2029, 2047 and 2094 – but they won’t last as long as this one.



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Can I take my Age Pension overseas? With record numbers of Australians moving overseas, travel agents are frequently asked about the portability of Australia’s Age Pension.

Now, in a special report, International Living Australia says it has nailed down the data Aussies need to know.

International Living Australia magazine is a monthly publication for subscribers detailing the best places in the world to live, retire, travel, and invest. Its editors are frequently asked about the portability of the Age Pension, and agents are often asked the same question.

According to new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, residents are leaving Australia at record levels – almost 85,000 people departed Australia in the final three months of last year.

Many Australians are choosing a lower-cost, more exciting retirement overseas but there’s a lot of uncertainty as to whether Baby Boomers can go with their Age Pension intact. And it can be difficult to get the answers all in the one spot.

So, let’s clear the air on this.

“You can take your age pension overseas indefinitely,” says Janet Nisted, International Living Australia Editor. “It will not be cut off unless there is a change in your circumstances (such as a change in your income and/or assets) that disqualifies you for the pension. Same as if you were in Australia.”

However, there are some things you need to be aware of.

“After six weeks overseas, your Age Pension will switch to the ‘outside Australia rate’,” Nisted says.

“All this means is that your Pension Supplement stops. The Pension Supplement is a combined payment of Pharmaceutical Allowance, Utilities Allowance, GST Supplement and Telephone Allowance. If you receive the Energy Supplement, that will stop also.

“The Pension Supplement is around AUD 80

per fortnight for a couple and is designed to help Age Pensioners living in Australia cope with the high cost of these services. So fair enough that you don’t continue to get the Supplement if you’re not living in Australia.

Although, keep in mind that in many low-cost retirement destinations overseas you can pay your utilities, phone and pharmaceuticals with your spare change.”

The Australian Working Life Residency rule or AWLR, is another one to note. If you’ve lived most of your life in Australia, the AWLR will probably not affect you. If, however, you migrated to Australia during your adult life or spent a substantial proportion of your adult life overseas, a move overseas may mean that your Age Pension amount is reduced after you’ve been gone for 26 weeks.

Here’s how it works.

“The AWLR measures the number of years you’ve lived in Australia between the ages of 16 and 65,” Nisted says.

“Note that you do not have to have worked any or all of this time; simply living in Australia is enough. If you have 35 years or more living in Australia between the ages of 16 and 65, you are entitled to the full amount of Age Pension as determined by the income and asset tests.

“And if you haven’t, then after 26 weeks overseas, your pension amount will be proportional to the number of years of your working life you lived in Australia. For example, if you have, say 20 years of Working Life Residency, then you’ll be entitled to 20/35ths of your current Age Pension after 26 weeks.”

So, the good news is that Australian Age Pensioners can go overseas for 26 weeks and still receive their regular Age Pension (less the Supplement as discussed above). And the majority of Aussie pensioners can stay overseas indefinitely and continue receiving their current Age Pension into either an Australian bank account or foreign bank account.

“Who knows when and if the rules will change, but for now, the going is good,” Nisted



says.

“But before you pack your bag, make sure to understand the current rules as they apply to your own situation. Seek financial advice from an independent qualified financial advisor and take advantage of the free information services offered by Centrelink.”

International Living Australia advises that if you’re currently receiving the Australian Age Pension, taking that pension with you on your overseas escape is pretty simple, but if you’re not yet at pension age and you don’t want to wait to experience life overseas, it’s a little trickier. It’s doable, but you need to understand the whole picture.

“For example, did you know that if you live overseas prior to pension eligibility age – either part-time or full-time – your Australian residency may change? If you plan to set off overseas again, this is very important. It will be up to Centrelink to determine if you’re still an Australian resident or a former resident and that decision can have a big impact on your travel plans.

Once that’s handled the only question left is, “Where to?”

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Documents

The Zeppelin Times 4CRB Travel Show...The total revenue Qantas earned on the MEL-SYD route between April 2017 and March 2018 was USD 854,692,402, according to OAG. When converted to