ACCC bosses slam Qantas and government over high airfares

Former bosses of the Australian competition watchdog have weighed in on the Qantas-Qatar Airways row.

Qantas and the government are taking heat for blocking extra flights for Qatar Air to protect Qantas’ bottom line.

Qatar Airways applied to add 21 extra flights per week to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane but was rejected.

The government said it was ‘in the national interest to help Qantas stay profitable.’

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce defended the decision as allowing more flights by Qatar would ‘distort the market.’

That comment has been slammed as ‘nonsense.’

Now ex Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Allan Fels has criticised the government decision.

“It’s a really bad decision by any standards, particularly when the government is talking about doing a competition review,” he said.

“This is going to keep prices up a lot. They’re 50% higher now than before Covid”.

Another former ACCC boss, Rod Sims agreed.

“It does hurt competition,” Sims said.

“What we see now in Australia is very high airfares internationally and not enough capacity.”

Qantas posted a $1.7 billion profit but the brand has suffered amid stinging criticism from customers over service levels and flight credits.

Customers have been put second, ” Fels added.

“We haven’t really had a good explanation in relation to the whole Qatar issue, and that’s unfortunate,” Sims said.

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