Virgin says Qatar would cut fares to Europe by a third

afr.com:

Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said allowing more competition from Qatar Airways would slash overseas fares by up to 40 per cent.

Ms Hrdlicka described as “nonsense” comments from Qantas boss Alan Joyce that allowing Qatar’s bid to add 28 new flights a week would “distort the market”.

Jayne Hrdlicka is pushing the government to revisit its decision to block Qatar. Glenn Campbell

“There is no market distortion that can be argued as a reason not to add Qatar’s flights,” the boss of Virgin – which is a big loser from the government’s decision to block Qatar – told the ABC on Tuesday.

The Albanese government’s rejection of Qatar’s bid last month came amid growing criticism of Qantas over high fares and poor service after the airline pocketed $2.7 billion in taxpayer handouts during the pandemic.

Questioned before a fired-up senate committee on Monday, Mr Joyce refused to say whether more competition from Qatar Airways would lower international airfares, conceding only that prices were “coming down anyway”.

Qantas opposed the Qatar bid saying it could prevent other carriers from coming back to the Australian market. Mr Joyce also said Qatar did not need extra flights to increase its capacity into Australia because it was free to fly to other cities, such as Adelaide, or to fly bigger planes.

But Ms Hrdlicka called that an “obfuscation”. “You need to add seats where the demand exists, it’s a bit of an obfuscation to say fly into cities where there is no demand,” she said.

Virgin said Qantas and its partner, the state-owned Emirates, dominate flights into Europe and the Middle East with a 43 per cent market share.

Virgin and its partners hold a 23 per cent share and adding Qatar’s additional four services would