Qantas faces questions by another federal committee as debate rages over the Qatar slot rejection

The blocking of Qatar Airways’ flights has been questioned by another parliamentary committee as ANZ’s chief weighed in, describing the decision as ‘disturbing’.

Qantas was questioned in another federal parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

Qantas has faced further questions over the Qatar Airways controversy as debate continues to rage over the federal government’s decision to block the airline from adding more flights into Australia.

Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka upped her attack on the decision and Qantas’ role, while ANZ boss Shayne Elliott weighed into the debate saying he was disturbed by the government’s explanation.

Speaking at a business lunch in Brisbane, Mr Elliott said he “liked flying Qatar Airways” and he was concerned the government would prevent the carrier from increasing flights to Australia to ensure Qantas remained profitable.

His remarks followed comments by federal Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, who said the government did not want to drive airfares down to a level where it was unsustainable for the existing Australia-based carrier.

“I think that’s really disturbing and I don’t understand why one company is given that support,” Mr Elliott said.

“This is a privately held, private enterprise company – I thought.”

He said while regulation was necessary, Qatar was a “safe, well run airline”.

“I don’t think the argument has anything to do with anti-dumping or anything, not that I’m aware of,” Mr Elliott said.

“So I found it a bit troubling to understand why they were blocked, particularly when any of you who fly know that all the planes are full, and they’re all really, really, really expensive.”

Ms Hrdlicka, who signed a partnership with Qatar Airways last year, told ABC radio on Tuesday the additional 28 flights a week into major airports would have slashed international airfares by up to 40 per cent.

She described as “nonsense” Qantas’ reason for objecting to the extra flights. Qantas chief Alan Joyce had claimed they would “distort the market” at a time when other international airlines were rebuilding to pre-Covid levels.

“You need to add seats where the demand exists,” Ms Hrdlicka told the ABC.

“It’s also a bit of nonsense to say it’s a market distortion when there’s such little capacity that’s recovered.”

Virgin Australia chief Jayne Hrdlicka. Picture: Brendan Radke

Qantas general secretary Andrew Finch went further on Tuesday when he fronted the House of Representatives standing committee on economics.

Questioned about the Qatar decision, Mr Finch said significant capacity increases announced by Singapore Airlines and China Southern in recent weeks may not have happened if Qatar had been granted more flights.

“It’s quite possible those other airlines may not have been able to get their growth and capacity,” Mr Finch said.

“What we are seeing now is all those airlines adding capacity into the market so they can be back to pre-Covid levels.”

He said there were no guarantees more Qatar Airways’ flights would lead to a reduction in airfares, adding that extra capacity by other airlines “more than compensated for those services”.

Mr Finch was also questioned about outstanding Qantas flight credits, following on from revelations in a Senate committee hearing on Monday that more than $500m was yet to be redeemed or refunded.

Liberal MP Keith Wolahan demanded to know why Qantas had not sent letters to people with unclaimed travel credits in addition to emails and newspaper advertisements.

“The open rate for emails is a lot lower than it is for mail sent by post,” Mr Wolahan said.

“Perhaps Qantas is shy about notifying its customers of their credits.”

Mr Finch replied that Qantas was not shy, and claimed the “open rate” for Qantas emails was in fact very high.

“I think we can safely say we’re trying our best, and taking out full-page advertisements is no cheap endeavour,” he said.

“I think we’re doing as much if not more than any other airline.”

On that subject, Ms Hrdlicka revealed that Virgin Australia was holding about $400m in unused travel credits accrued during the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns, and for flights booked before the airline was placed in administration.

She said they would expire at the end of the year – the same as the Qantas flight credits – and Virgin was working to ensure all credits were used.