Qantas says Canberra cancellations minimise network disruptions
Qantas claims the domestic aviation market is “highly competitive”, blaming air traffic control staffing issues and weather conditions for causing the airline to cancel Canberra services at more than five times the rate of competitors.
Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron has labelled Qantas’ 11.5 per cent cancellation rate out of his airport “a national disgrace” and urged regulators to act.
Qantas says it is not hoarding slots at Sydney. Alamy
“Why are we always double the next worst rate of cancellations?” Mr Byron asked last week.
But Qantas head of network Scott Zeglin told a federal parliamentary committee into economic dynamism on Tuesday that the airline cancels Sydney-Canberra flights to minimise disruption to its broader services, rather than to hoard slots at Sydney Airport.
“It’s not a direct policy [to cancel and hoard slots] as you’re potentially alluding to having more slots and more activity scheduled than what we can deliver,” Mr Zeglin said.
Airports and smaller airlines claim Qantas and Virgin Australia routinely cancel flights but rotate the cancellations across services to maintain the 80 per cent usage threshold, under which a slot is retained into perpetuity.
Tuesday’s appearance before a House of Representatives committee followed Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce’s fiery round of questioning on Monday, when he was summoned to appear before a Senate inquiry into the cost of living to explain high airfares and Qantas’ lobbying against competition.
On Tuesday, Qantas chief legal counsel Andrew Finch rejected claims the airline hoards slots at the country’s biggest airport in Sydney, telling the committee that the domestic aviation market was highly competitive.
“The barriers to entry are
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