Summary
- Qatar Airways recently requested to extend flights to major Australian airports, but the federal government denied their request.
- The rejection of latest flights will cost the Australian economy over $500 million per yr.
- Regional airports, equivalent to Cairns and Gold Coast, have reached out to Qatar Airways for potential latest flights, hoping to extend tourism and profit the local industry.
The Doha, Qatar-based airline Qatar Airways is talking with several Australian locations to start service. After the Australian government announced that it could block the request from Qatar Airways to extend its flights to 4 major airports, each Cairns Airport (CNS) and Gold Coast Airport (OOL) have reached out to the airline for potential latest flights.
Qatar Airways flight increase was denied by the Australian government
Earlier this summer, Qatar Airways requested to extend its flights to several major Australian airports. Currently, the airline has a limit of 28 weekly round-trip flights to the 4 largest cities in Australia from its important hub in Doha. These 4 airports are Brisbane Airport (BNE), Melbourne Airport (MEL), Perth Airport (PER), and Sydney International Airport (SYD). This limit was based on the airline’s agreement with the federal government of Australia. Moreover, Qatar Airways doesn’t have any limitations for some other Australian destinations.
Photo: Dragunov | Shutterstock
Nonetheless, in July the Australian government officially rejected the request from Qatar Airways for an extra 21 weekly flights. These 21 weekly flights were set to be dispersed across the 4 busiest Australian airports. The Australian government, nonetheless, could be very protective of the nation’s flag carrier, Qantas. The Australian airline spoke to the Financial Review in regards to the airline’s request, saying,
“(QR) was understood to have had the support of state premiers keen to see more international tourists return. But one other industry source said granting Qatar more landing rights would potentially destabilize the landscape as other airlines return to full capability.”
More recently, tourism figures showed that the rejection of latest flights by the Australian government will cost the Australian economy greater than $500 million per yr. The Australian Financial Review reported that, based on 50% of seats sold on the projected flights, the rejected flights could cost between $540 million and $788 million every year in incremental economic activity.
Expansion requests from regional airports
After the Australian government officially rejected the 21 latest flights to a few of its busiest airports, several other regional airports were brought into discussions with Qatar Airways. The present agreement between Qatar Airways and the Australian government doesn’t restrict service to some other airports besides Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.
Photo: Bagaskara Lazuardi | Shutterstock
Because of the dearth of restrictions, Cairns Airport Chief Executive, Richard Barker, has said that the airport has been in discussion with Qatar Airlines for extra flights through Cairns. Barker believes that increasing the capability of the airport would result in lower prices throughout the industry. He said,
“That is a part of the rationale we’re talking to airlines equivalent to Qatar ourselves.”
Queensland Airports Limited, which operates the Gold Coast Airport, also recently said that it could try and bring Qatar Airways to Gold Coast. The Chief Business Officer of Queensland Airports Limited, Adam Rowe, said,
“So there are significant advantages to our local tourism industry and anyone servicing travelers, each inbound and outbound. On top of that, you have got the importance of those business ties and freight links as well for our exporters, which include any latest international widebody service.”
Qatar Airways currently doesn’t service either of those airports and doesn’t currently service any of Australia’s regional airports. Up to now, nonetheless, the airline has flown to Canberra Airport.