Qantas has urged the federal government not to review an application by Qatar Airways to double its flights to Australia, and defended its refusal to disclose the nature of its communications with the government before the original rejection.
Qatar Airways has applied to the Department of Infrastructure and Transport for a review of the controversial decision, which would have allowed the gulf carrier to add 28 flights to the country’s four biggest airports. Transport Minister Catherine King denied the original application in July.
Qantas chair Richard Goyder and the airline’s new chief Vanessa Hudson faced a hostile Senate committee last week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Qantas lodged a nine-page submission to the Senate on Wednesday, one week after the Senate select committee into bilateral air rights chair Bridget McKenzie admonished the airline for failing to make a submission before its appearance last week.
“If Virgin and Rex can do it, I do not understand why the largest and most dominant carrier in the country can’t respect this committee by putting pen to paper and addressing the terms of reference,” McKenzie said.
In the submission, Qantas said claims that Qatar would have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional tourism revenue – aired by much of the aviation and tourism industries – were over-baked.
The carrier’s former chief economist Tony Webber estimated Qatar’s extra flights would have generated about $500 million, while University of Sydney professor Rico Merkhert said the rejection would cost more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
But Qantas said Qatar Airways carried a “disproportionately high” number of Australians out of the country.
“On that basis, suggestions that granting the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority application would have materially advanced the Australian tourism industry’s recovery are overstated,” Qantas said.
The airline also said its international competitors have “significantly lower cost bases” due to lower labour costs in their home markets, meaning Qantas needs to continue restructuring to “improve our own competitiveness”.
The submission also said Qantas is often consulted on aviation and tourism policy and spoke to a range of advisors and members of parliament on many of the issues which have recently embroiled the carrier in a series of scandals, including COVID-19 credits.
Qantas defended its refusal to provide details of its communications with members of the government on the Qatar saga, or any other issue.
“It is our view that a critical hallmark of a robust democracy is the ability of parties to convey their perspective on issues to the government and the opposition without hesitation, and particularly without fear of (lawful and appropriate) confidential disclosures being disclosed inadvertently or deliberately,” the submission said.
McKenzie and other Coalition members, including Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, have repeatedly insinuated that the Qatar decision was a quid pro quo given by the Albanese government in exchange for Qantas’ support for the Voice to parliament ahead of the October 14 referendum.
Qantas has repeatedly rejected this claim, and it did so again in the submission by providing a 10-year timeline of the group’s public promotion of Indigenous recognition. “This has no basis in fact ignores Qantas’ longstanding commitment to Indigenous reconciliation,” it said.
The Senate committee is expected to deliver a report on the country’s bilateral air rights next week after two weeks of hearings with stakeholders and government departments. Two notable absences from the hearings were former Qantas boss Alan Joyce, who suddenly departed the business at the beginning of September, and the transport minister, King, who was on leave.
It is not customary for lower house members to appear before the upper house. King’s office ruled out claims she may have to give evidence before the Senate on this matter earlier this week.
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