Qantas says Sydney Airport is ‘demonising’ it in landing rights stoush

afr.com:

Qantas has accused Sydney Airport of “demonising” its biggest customer after it suggested the country’s largest airline was hoarding landing slots in a bid to prevent competitors from adding more flights to Australia.

In an escalation of a row over who is to blame for elevated airfares after the resumption of travel following the COVID-19 pandemic, Qantas’ domestic chief executive, Andrew David, said the allegation that the airline was “hoarding slots at Sydney Airport is simply wrong”.

Airlines at Sydney Airport are required to operate at least 80 per cent of their allocated slots to keep them. Ryan Pierse

The airline said Sydney Airport, taken private by a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners and IFM Investors last year, wanted Qantas to give up its landing rights so that it could earn more money from international passengers. Because international flights are larger, and passengers spend more time in terminals, the airport would make more money, Qantas said.

This month, Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert said the federal government should act on recommendations before it to change how landing rights were awarded. A review conducted for the government by former Productivity Commission chairman Peter Harris in 2021 found there was “credible” evidence airlines were gaming the landing rights system to block competitors from accessing additional slots.

In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, Mr Culbert said that “if incumbent airlines have decided to fly less between key domestic markets, then they should relinquish slots to domestic and international carriers who want to operate out of Sydney Airport”.

He has previously accused Qantas of overbooking landing slots before cancelling