Travellers to pay more after Qatar rebuffed: Airports
Australian tourism and airport operators say a decision to block Qatar Airways from expanding services into east coast cities will hurt consumers and businesses, rubbishing suggestions that the state-backed airline would distort the market for carriers trying to restore international capacity.
Industry sources were furious that Federal Transport, Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Catherine King rebuffed Qatar Airways when it has the planes to meet demand and reduce prices.
“More seats means more competition and that is what we need to improve connectivity and to help bring down air fares,” Australian Airports Association chief executive James Goodwin said.
One tourism operator said Australia needed to do more to negotiate open skies agreements instead of relying on bilateral air agreements, which he derided as “really just a smoke screen for quotas or limits to the number of flights allowed”.
Arrivals have not picked up at the same pace as Australians are departing since the easing of flight restrictions, with visitors put off by high airfares that stem from airlines being slow to reinstate flight capacity. Airlines are struggling with returning planes and pilots to the skies.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed that the number of short-stay overseas visitor arrivals in May was down 23 per cent compared with May 2019 at 512,330, while the number of Aussies heading overseas was down only 11 per cent at 830,750.
Qatar Airways, however, has been running at around 96 per cent capacity into the east coast, one source said, and was keen to expand its European routes. It had applied to add 28 flights: 21 into Sydney and 7 into Melbourne.
The source said the clear beneficiary was Qantas, which stopped
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