According to reports from Qantas, the airline says that its subsidiary, Jetstar is now half of its size. The carrier went on to report that Jetstar flew 632,000 passengers a month. This is exactly half of what Qantas flies a month.

This is a big milestone for the low cost subsidiary. The international operations for Jetstar have really been growing. The domestic figures have crept up a little slower and have had less of an impact on the company as a whole.

Qantas’s domestic flights grew by 0.4 percent in the past month when compared to the same month a year ago. The airline was able to carry 1.264 million passengers. This is being compared to the 3.5 percent growth that Jetstar domestic flights saw when compared to 2009.

Internally the figures were even more dramatic. Qantas internationally lost 20.7 percent of its passengers, only carrying around 462,000 in a month. However, Jetstar’s passenger numbers grew by 101 percent up to 310,000. In all, the group carried 3.2 million passengers for that month, This means that its passengers-carried ratio grew by 7.7 percent.

So these numbers are very pleasing, but what does this mean for Qantas and Jetstar? On top of that, why has Jetstar’s numbers really taken off and Qantas are slowly falling?

Really this has to do with the economy. Thanks to the latest recession, businesses have changed the way that they travel. People are now opting for low cost carriers, which Jetstar is, and forgetting about full service airlines, which Qantas is. Of course, it does not matter too much to Qantas since Jetstar is its subsidiary.