Qantas boss defends fares, profits, competition in Senate clash
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has refused to say whether more competition from Qatar Airways would lower international airfares, conceding only that prices were “coming down anyway”.
Mr Joyce was hauled before a Senate inquiry on Monday as the Albanese government offered a fifth explanation for its move to block additional Qatar Airways flights – that Qantas’ profits were in the national interest.
“Various reasons”: outgoing Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce gives evidence to the Senate inquiry on Monday. Eamon Gallagher
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones added the latest reason to the four given before, which included human rights, carbon emissions, protecting well-paid secure jobs and Qantas buying new planes at a “significant cost”; he also described Qantas’ record $2.5 billion profit as “a good news story”.
Mr Joyce, the outgoing boss of Australia’s biggest airline, faced intense questioning by the committee inquiring into cost of living on Monday, on everything from flight delays, lost baggage, unused flight credits and the prime minister’s son’s chairman’s lounge membership.
While refusing to be drawn on the consequences of giving Qatar the additional flights it requested, Mr Joyce said given other airlines were adding capacity, “prices would have come down anyway”.
The government has long claimed its move to block an additional 28 Qatar Airways flights per week into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane was in the “national interest”; on Monday Mr Jones expanded on what that meant.
“We can drive prices down but if we drive them down to a level where it’s actually unsustainable to run an airline, instead of having two carriers we will design our markets in a way which will make it unsustainable for the existing
Read more on afr.com
