Category Archives: Airline industry

Flight delay compensation would stop Australian airlines from acting like a ‘mafia of the skies’, MP says

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Exclusive: Independent MP Monique Ryan ramps up calls for proposed scheme after Sydney airport CEO accuses airlines of ‘slot hoarding’

Australian airlines are acting like a “mafia of the sky” in continuing to strategically cancel flights they never intended to operate, an MP has claimed, arguing for the urgent introduction of compensation laws so carriers are deterred by immediate penalties.

Monique Ryan, the independent member for Kooyong in Melbourne, has ramped up her calls for a mandatory compensation scheme for airline passengers, saying allegations levelled by Sydney airport this week showed such laws were needed as a matter of urgency and could not wait until the government’s aviation white paper, which is due by the middle of next year.

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‘Poverty pay’: travellers may soon face airport disruption as Virgin Australia crew close in on striking

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Transport Workers Union chief says ground crew and pilots fear ‘mistakes being made due to their unsustainable working conditions’

Travellers could be hit with unexpected disruptions as Virgin Australia’s cabin crew and ground workers close in on strike action over claims of “poverty pay” and “unsustainable” conditions.

On Monday, the Virgin cabin crew members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) will apply to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for a protected action ballot, which, if granted, means they can vote to take industrial action that they have been threatening to do over claims of “poverty pay, job insecurity and unsafe conditions”.

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Ryanair to reward shareholders as it heads for record profits after fares rise

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Airline to pay regular dividends as finance boss says consumers are going to continue spending

Ryanair is to hand its shareholders regular payouts for the first time after soaring air fares put the airline on track to make record profits.

The budget carrier said it expects to notch up profits of between €1.85bn (£1.6bn) and €2.05bn in the financial year to the end of March, far outstripping its previous highest profit of €1.45bn in 2018.

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Air fares likely to stay stubbornly high as travel-hungry Australians’ tastes change

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Higher prices see the phenomenon of ‘revenge travel’ turn into a willingness to spend more on bigger trips, industry watchers say

International air fares are set to remain stubbornly high throughout the first half of next year, but the preferences of travel-hungry Australians are shifting.

After the broad reopening of borders by mid-2022, international airlines have largely enjoyed bumper profits by operating fewer flights than an average pre-pandemic year, all while Australians’ pent-up demand for travel meant they were able to charge eye-watering amounts for tickets.

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Qantas chairman heckled by shareholders at AGM as investors reject executive pay plans

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Shouts of ‘shame on you’ after shareholder Chris Maxworthy’s microphone cut off

Qantas’s annual general meeting erupted with shareholders shouting “shame on you” at the board’s chairman, Richard Goyder, as investors overwhelmingly rejected the embattled company’s executive pay deal.

That result, which marked one of Australia’s largest ever protest votes against executive pay, came after Goyder and the airline’s chief executive, Vanessa Hudson, apologised to investors for a year of sagas that had seen the company’s share price plummet.

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Labor accused of ‘dragging feet’ on reinstating program that monitors airlines for potential price-gouging

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Opposition says there’s ‘no excuse’ for further delays on the government reviving the ACCC flight monitoring regime


More than two weeks after announcing it was reviving an airline industry monitoring program, the Albanese government is yet to formally direct the competition watchdog to conduct the investigation.

After months of scrutiny into Qantas’s influence in the government’s decision to block rival Qatar Airways’ push to boost its flights to Australia, the Greens and independent senator David Pocock in October knocked back a proposal to extend a Senate inquiry on the topic.

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Disabled man drags himself off plane after Air Canada fails to offer wheelchair

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Airline was forced to apologize to Rodney Hodgins who flew to Las Vegas with his wife to celebrate their anniversary in August

Air Canada has been forced to apologize after a man with spastic cerebral palsy was forced to drag himself off a plane when the flagship carrier failed to provide a wheelchair for him.

Rodney Hodgins, 49, a hardware salesman from British Columbia who requires the use of a motorized wheelchair, flew to Las Vegas with his wife, Deanna, to celebrate their anniversary in August.

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Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce avoids Senate inquiry after push to extend probe knocked back

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Coalition motion to reconvene committee fails after Greens and David Pocock side with government

The former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce will not be forced to appear before a Senate inquiry after a Coalition proposal to extend the probe was knocked back by the Greens and David Pocock.

It comes as the federal government announced on Wednesday that the competition watchdog would recommence quarterly flight monitoring before the end of the year.

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BA and Virgin Atlantic suspend all flights between UK and Israel

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Airlines make decision for safety reasons as MPs and families call on UK to evacuate nationals from Gaza

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have suspended all flights between the UK and Tel Aviv in Israel, as countries around the world scramble to evacuate citizens amid the mounting crisis.

BA earlier had to divert a flight to Tel Aviv back to the UK because of security concerns, and said it took the decision after “the latest assessment of the situation”.

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Oil price leaps and airline shares fall after Hamas attack on Israel

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Investors predict more instability in Middle East, as some flights to Tel Aviv are suspended

Oil and gas prices rose on Monday and airline shares fell amid widespread flight cancellations as markets reacted to the surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas.

Investors appeared to be pricing in the prospect of more instability in the Middle East, given the warning from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that his country was embarking on a “long and difficult war”. The death toll has passed 1,100 since fighting started on Saturday and is rising.

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Labor should review decision to block extra Qatar Airways flights to Australia, Senate inquiry says

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Committee seeks more time so it can quiz former Qantas boss Alan Joyce about the Albanese government’s Qatar Airways ruling

The Albanese government should immediately review its decision to block Qatar Airways from launching extra flights to Australia, a Senate inquiry has recommended, as it called for a significantly expanded role and powers for the competition and consumer watchdog in the sector.

The Senate select committee on bilateral air service agreements – set up to examine the rejection of Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flights into Australia’s major airports – has also recommended its own extension to November so the former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce could front members upon his return to Australia, and so other Qantas representatives who provided “unsatisfactory” responses could be re-quizzed by senators.

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Pilot identified after plane crash near Canberra kills 65-year-old and three grandchildren

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Peter Nally was flying light plane that vanished from radar 16 minutes after taking off from Canberra airport

The family of an experienced pilot and his grandchildren who were killed in a light plane crash near Canberra have asked for privacy as they grieve.

Peter Nally and the three school-aged children died when the five-seater Cirrus they were travelling in crashed and then caught alight in a paddock at Gundaroo, north of Queanbeyan, on Friday afternoon.

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Qantas chairman’s lounge revolt: why some MPs are ditching the airline’s VIP access

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David Pocock and Barbara Pocock are the latest in a string of independent and minor party politicians to renounce the ‘Canberra bonus’ in the name of integrity

A number of MPs and senators are handing back their access to Qantas’ prestigious chairman’s lounge in the name of integrity after a series of sagas that have painted the domestic carrier in negative light.

It comes as the airline has come under fire in recent months over its influence in federal government and a recent high court ruling finding it had illegally sacked workers during the pandemic.

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Minister linked Qatar Airways decision to treatment of Australian women at Doha airport, FoI reveals

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Exclusive: federal government coordinated letters to the women and Qatari officials when they formally rejected the request for extra routes

The coordinated timing of two key letters sent by the federal government about its decision to block extra flights for Qatar Airways, released under freedom of information, raise fresh questions about the role an incident at Doha airport played in the rejection.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) was consulted over a letter that the transport minister, Catherine King, was preparing to send to five Australian women suing Qatar Airways, telling them the airline’s push for more flights had been rejected, FoI documents reveal.

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Catherine King refuses to front ‘political stunt’ senate inquiry into Qatar Airways decision

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Transport minister says it is ‘long-standing practice’ not to appear and says she is doing the ‘hard work the Coalition never did’

Transport minister Catherine King has shot down calls for her to appear before a senate inquiry examining her decision to reject Qatar Airways’ request for extra flights to Australia, labelling the probe “a political stunt”.

The senate select committee on bilateral air agreements was launched in response to outcry from the aviation and tourism sectors over the Albanese government’s decision to block Qatar Airways proposal to almost double its flights into major cities, and questions about the influence of key rival Qantas in the process.

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Private jet service for rich dog owners condemned by climate campaigners

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UK-based charter firm launches ‘ludicrous’ £8,166 Dubai-London route for clients who want to fly with pets

Environmentalists have condemned a “ludicrous” private jet service that transports wealthy people’s dogs, which this week ran its first flight from Dubai to London.

For £8,166, one way, customers were able to sit with their dogs on their laps and sip champagne as they travelled from Al Maktoum international airport to Farnborough in a Gulfstream IV-SP jet.

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Head of Australia’s competition watchdog calls for new mandate to police airline industry

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Exclusive: Gina Cass-Gottlieb says ACCC needs greater powers to help new entrants compete with Qantas and Virgin

The head of the competition watchdog has called for a fresh mandate from the Albanese government to monitor the airline industry and help new entrants compete with established players Qantas and Virgin.

The chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said the regulator sees “a case” for a mandate to look into competition, prices and industry practices after an earlier direction expired in June.

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Qantas pilots in Western Australia to strike for 24 hours over pay deal

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Industrial action could affect more than 50 flights including routes from Perth to regional towns and mine sites

Qantas pilots who operate passenger, charter and fly-in-fly-out (Fifo) services in Western Australia will stop work for 24 hours next week, as workers negotiating a new pay deal complain of wages “significantly lower” compared to other airlines.

The Australian Federation of Air Pilots (Afap), which represents pilots employed by Network Aviation – a subsidiary of Qantas Group which operates Qantas Link, Fifo and charter services for the airline in Western Australia – said it notified Qantas management on Thursday afternoon about the stop work action.

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China lifts trade restrictions as relationship improves – as it happened

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Trade minister Don Farrell welcomes ‘positive step forward’ but says Australia pressing for all remaining restrictions to be lifted. This blog is now closed

Chalmers also declared the government is not “currently contemplating” a fuel subsidy, as prices continue to rise.

It comes after new data released yesterday showed cost of living is still increasing, with fuel costs jumping 9.1% in August, gas up 12.9% and electricity 12.7%.

It’s not something that we are currently contemplating. And one of the reasons for that is we’ve got I think, a much better way of providing cost of living help for people.

Historically, what the Reserve Bank tries to do is to understand the overall direction of travel.

And the direction of travel has been really clear, inflation is moderating overall, we’ll get these bumpy and lumpy figures month to month from time to time, but it’s moderating overall.

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Australia agrees to clear-the-air talks with Qatar over controversial airline decision

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Exclusive: Comes after heated Senate inquiry hearings told application for extra flights by the Gulf had been “unfairly rejected”

Australian bureaucrats will schedule a meeting with Qatari officials to discuss the Albanese government’s controversial decision to reject Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flight operations to Australia.

Senate inquiry hearings this week revealed that the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) – which lodged the request for an additional 28 weekly flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – had requested consultations with the Australian department of infrastructure and transport.

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