Qantas pledges to rebuild reputation after damaging ACCC allegations

The airline, led by Alan Joyce, has broken its silence on damaging ACCC allegations and pledged to rebuild its reputation.

Qantas has broken its silence over a damaging lawsuit launched by the consumer watchdog, telling the ASX it will rebuild its reputation by “delivering consistently” and hinting it will fight the allegations.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission filed the Federal Court action last Thursday, alleging Qantas sold tickets on flights that had been cancelled up to 47-days prior.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb indicated they would be seeking a record penalty of more than $250m for the conduct, to send a message to other corporations.

The claims made by the ACCC concerned the period between May and July 2022, during which Qantas and QantasLink were alleged to have cancelled around 15,000 flights.

They included 8000 flights, where tickets continued to be sold after they were cancelled, with passengers not informed of the flights’ status for weeks.

In a statement to the ASX, Qantas suggested that no customer was left out of pocket by the airline, with “longstanding practice” being to offer passengers of cancelled flights an alternative service or a refund.

“The ACCC’s allegations come at a time when Qantas’ reputation has already been hit hard on several fronts,” said the statement.

“We want the community to know that we hear and understand their disappointment. We know that the only way to fix it is by delivering consistently. We know it will take time to repair and we are absolutely determined to do that.”

The airline also repeated previous commentary, highlighting that the period in which the alleged “false, misleading or deceptive conduct” was alleged to occur, was one of “well publicised upheaval and uncertainty across the aviation industry”.

“We openly acknowledge that our service standards fell well short and we sincerely apologise,” said the statement.

“We have worked hard to fix them since, and that work continues.”

The statement came as pressure grew on the Qantas board to “claw back” short term bonuses of $4.8m due to be paid to chief executive Alan Joyce, as he prepares to exit the airline in November.

There was also concern Mr Joyce was aware the legal action was coming when he took the decision to sell 2.5 million shares in June, a move that earned him a windfall of $17m.

At the time, the sale was explained as helping to fund a property purchase by Mr Joyce.

It’s unclear when Qantas executives were aware of the impending lawsuit, as the ACCC investigated the airline’s handling of Covid travel credits as well as flight cancellations.

In response to the travel credits investigation, Qantas axed the looming expiry data for $570m worth of flights paid for by customers during the pandemic.

As yet, no date has been set for the ACCC’s case against Qantas to be heard in the Federal Court.

Qantas shares continued to head south on Monday, losing 19c $5.63 in morning trade on the ASX.

Originally published as Qantas pledges to rebuild reputation after damaging ACCC allegations