Virgin says government harmed its ability to compete with Qantas

afr.com:

Virgin Australia says the federal government’s “hard to understand” decision not to allow Qatar Airways to fly more services into Australia has undermined its ability to compete with Qantas.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, Virgin said it held a 23 per cent share of the Europe and Middle East market through its partnership with Qatar, Etihad and Singapore Airlines. Granting Qatar the additional 28 weekly services it was after would have increased that to some 27 per cent.

Virgin Australia has a partnership with Etihad, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways on international routes. Getty

“In declining [Qatar]‘s request, the federal government has negatively impacted the competitive position of Virgin Australia in favour of our far larger rival,” the submission reads.

“In the face of the compelling economic argument in favour of 28 additional services each week from Qatar Airways, including the clear benefit it provides to improving domestic aviation competitiveness, the decision to decline the… request, let alone to not even open negotiations with Qatar, creates a perception that [Qantas] is receiving preferential treatment.”

The inquiry was called to examine the circumstances that led Transport Minister Catherine King refusing the additional Qatar flights.

Despite requests from the Senate, Ms King has refused to provide documents explaining her decision to deny the flights citing public interest immunity. The Australian Financial Review has previously reported that the Qatari government received a letter dated July 14 from the Transport Department informing it that the request had been declined.

One reason later given by Ms King was the treatment of female travellers transiting at Hamad International Airport.