Qantas Says Rising Global Economy Boosts Business Travel Demand

Australia's biggest carrier, said an improving global economy is feeding a recovery in business demand while leisure travel remains strong in the face of increased borrowing costs.

"We are seeing very strong leisure demand despite interest rates having gone up," Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said in an interview broadcast on Sky Business Channel today. "We're still seeing the business market recovering because confidence is returning to the business sector."

The Reserve Bank of Australia signaled it is likely to raise borrowing costs further after increasing its benchmark interest rate to 4.25 percent on April 6, the fifth advance in seven months. Sydney-based Qantas is increasing capacity as domestic economic growth and gains in the Australian dollar spur travel demand.

"We had expected the business market to return, and our intakes in terms of business traffic have been strong as we had been expecting," Joyce, 43, said.