Qatar denied extra capacity into Australia

[stm1sydney]

I appreciate your point but it’s overly simplistic, there are so many more considerations even beyond aviation for the government to consider.

There do not appear to be any considerations beyind protecting Qantas. Certainly, Minister King has not said anything intelligible, just a confusing and contradictory series of potential justifications like "climate change."

 

[MooTime]

There do not appear to be any considerations beyond protecting Qantas. Certainly, Minister King has not said anything intelligible, just a confusing and contradictory series of potential justifications like "climate change."

and the 'national interest' reasoning.

It was actually Qatar who was acting in Australia's National interest during the pandemic, they Qatar were the ones that didn't stop flying into Australia, bringing Australia's home, while QF metal sat dormant.
Qantas only flew the odd plane when the gov threw bags of money at it.

At a very minimal we should be thankful for Qatar for this aspect & throw them a return bone.

climate change excuse, national interest excuse....seriously!

 

[PineappleSkip]

QR not commenting.

FWIW, there is a clip from an earlier interview with Akbar Al Baker in the 730 story. Given it's Government to Government I can understand them not commenting at the moment.

The original story from the end of October last year is here. There isn't a lot more to it than appears in the ABC report,
Sky News | Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker hits back at Qantas

 

[Gold Member]

FWIW, there is a clip from an earlier interview with Akbar Al Baker in the 730 story. Given it's Government to Government I can understand them not commenting at the moment.

Admiral Akbar was later quoted stating “It’s a Trap!”

 

[drron]

A. Yeah sure, but they’re not inbound tourists - the claim being made is lost tourist dollars. They’ll return and go back to work.

B. I don’t disagree, I asked if there was any data or evidence to back up this claim.

So these are the statistics from the ABS. At the end of June this year short term visitor arrivals are down by 40% on 2019. So the claim that many people from OS are wanting to come to Australia is obviously true no matter what some want to argue. The less OS short term arrivals of OS visitors the less jobs and income for our tourist industry.

 

[justinbrett]

AJ interviewed by Sky News Business - includes discussion of the Qatar decision.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes ... perhaps Alan Joyce has the same scriptwriter as the Minister

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has provided a baffling explanation for his airline’s objection to Qatar Airways’ request to increase flights into Australia, saying they would “distort the market”.

“What we said when it came to Qatar … was there shouldn’t be rights granted when there’s a huge amount of capacity being put back into the market,” Mr Joyce said in Sydney.

“Doubling those rights (for Qatar) could actually distort the market and that’s proven to be correct because capacity has essentially doubled in that time.

“From July 1 this year to June 30, 6.4 million seats will be added to international capacity.”

 

[RooFlyer]

Alan Joyce is on the 7:30 report tonight on ABC. Preview on the news shows some classic double speak.

Paraphrasing:

Q: In view of the huge profit, will Qantas be paying back the money it got from the government during covid?

A: yes, we will be paying it back - we'll be paying corporate tax ..

Q: Errrr, not, you have to pay that, that's not paying back the covid handouts.

Note - not a straight 'No' in the answer (which is the case, we know) - just evasion and moving the goal posts.

And I wonder how much in accumulated losses the QF group has and if it will be paying any tax on the recent profit [if it doesn't, I have no problem with that - its how the tax system works]

Should be entertaining viewing.

Hoping for a Aston column tomorrow.

 

[clifford]

Alan Joyce is on the 7:30 report tonight on ABC. Preview on the news shows some classic double speak.

Should be entertaining viewing.

Hoping for a Aston column tomorrow.

Watching it now. It's rather depressing...

 

[justinbrett]

And I wonder how much in accumulated losses the QF group has and if it will be paying any tax on the recent profit [if it doesn't, I have no problem with that - its how the tax system works]

Sky Business said it was 7 billion in losses. So they will have a few years of no tax.

As for the system - well that was also quite clearly laid out for covid relief, you only had to pay it back if you made a profit in the period you received the assistance. QF used Jobkeeper for the intended purpose - it would have laid off the employees otherwise.

If the government wants to change the rules post game that everyone has to pay it back, then apply it to all companies.

 

[RooFlyer]

Watching it now. It's rather depressing...

But very slick.

As in ... oily.

Sky Business said it was 7 billion in losses. So they will have a few years of no tax.

If I heard correctly, AJ on the ABC just now said QF would be paying tax in 2025, which surprises me.

 

[RooFlyer]

OMG ... AJ brought up his "working class background" ... when asked about the ?$24 mill final payout.

 

[sydneyboi]

wow loved how he won't talk about the Chairmans lounge !

she's going for him !

 

[Must...Fly!]

QF used Jobkeeper for the intended purpose - it would have laid off the employees otherwise.

And broke the law to achieve a long standing goal of outsourcing all ground handling at the expense of employees.

 

[drron]

And in the Sky News clip posted by @justinbrett AJ says that adding 6.4 million seats by QF is bringing airfares down. Then he gets asked about the Qatar decision by the government and he replies that China Southern and SQ have added more seats than Qatar was asking for.
So surely all extra capacity would help bring Airfares down seeing that Short term OS visitors were only at 60% of pre covid levels at the end of June this year.
And if QR was asking for less extra seats than that added by SQ and China Southern how in the heck would that "distort the market" in the words of AJ.
Sorry AJ you are talking rubbish.

 

[justinbrett]

The ABC interview didn't mention the Qatar decision or even QR in general.

 

[Pushka]

Sky Business said it was 7 billion in losses. So they will have a few years of no tax.

As for the system - well that was also quite clearly laid out for covid relief, you only had to pay it back if you made a profit in the period you received the assistance. QF used Jobkeeper for the intended purpose - it would have laid off the employees otherwise.

If the government wants to change the rules post game that everyone has to pay it back, then apply it to all companies.

So no company profit tax means they won't even be paying back Job Keeper () which was how Joyce somehow tried to pass off when asked directly about it.

 

[Clayton]

And today's information by Jane Hume is that the government recently:

"cancelled the direction to the ACCC to monitor competition in the airline industry – a key transparency mechanism that has revealed that prices for airfares remain high even as costs come down."

Something is decidedly on the nose in this relationship.

 

[Pushka]

Even being talked about in SA radio today. The Australian has a feature article apparently.

 

[stm1sydney]

And more coverage in the Oz this morning:

"Mr Joyce only added to the confusion with a bizarre explanation for Qantas’ opposition to its Oneworld partner’s bid for more capacity.

"An industry insider told The Australian that Qatar’s application for more flights had been signed off by the relevant government departments but was killed by federal cabinet.

"“That’s the influence Alan Joyce has,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

But as noted above, the blowtorch really needs to be applied to the clowns in federal cabinet. Going after Joyce on this is just letting them off the hook.