The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a pretty poor showing this Wednesday so far. At present, the ASX 200 is down by 0.28%. If the index closes in the red, it will snap a winning streak that has been going on for more than a trading week now. But let’s talk about the Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price.
ASX 200 travel share Qantas is having an even worse day than the ASX 200. At present, the national carrier has lost a meaty 1.37% and is down to $6.49 a share. That’s a loss more than four times that of the broader market.
So what’s going on with the Qantas share price today that has resulted in such a chunky drop in value?
Well, there’s been no fresh developments out of the airline itself, apart from some routine ASX paperwork regarding the company’s ongoing share buybacks.
But we do have a likely candidate for why investors are shunning Qantas shares today.
Qantas share price stalls as airline drops out of global top ten
The company has just got some bad news regarding its international reputation. Every year, Skytrax runs the World Airline Awards, ranking the world’s top airlines “voted for by travellers around the world”.
This morning, 2023’s world airline awards were made public, and they weren’t good news for Qantas.
Here’s what voters decided the world’s top ten airlines for 2023 were:
- Singapore Airlines
- Qatar Airways
- ANA All Nippon Airways
- Emirates
- Japan Airlines
- Turkish Airlines
- Air France
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- EVA Air
- Korean Air
Notice a conspicuous absence?
Qantas was the number five airline for 2022’s awards. But for 2023, the Flying Kangaroo got a big demotion, dropping 12 ranks to number 17.
Perhaps the only comfort for Qantas comes from the news that its rivals Virgin Australia and Regional Express Holdings Ltd (ASX: REX) came in at rank 46 and 56 respectively.
All things considered, it was going to be tough for Qantas to retain its top-ten ranking this year. Qantas flyers infamously had to deal with a myriad of issues over 2022, including long delays and poor staffing levels. Two mechanical incidents at the start of this year probably didn’t help either.
However, the drop from five to 17 is a big one, and probably took investors by surprise today. Although it’s hard to analyse exactly how much impact this move will have on the business going forward, it almost certainly explains the weakness we are seeing with Qantas shares this Wednesday.
Even so, investors can’t be too upset, given the Qantas share price remains up a healthy 9.34% in 2023 so far:
