Qantas's sneaky trick to keep airfares high after cosying up to Anthony Albanese and giving his son...

Qantas and Virgin Australia have been alleged of monopolising premium airport runway slots with the intention of driving out budget competitors Bonza and Rex while maintaining expensive air ticket prices.

The two major airlines have been alleged of cancelling the peak hour flights abruptly, while wrongfully attributing the cancellations to non-existent issues.

According to a Parliamentary inquiry, Qantas and Virgin Australia are able to maintain their monopoly on important routes and high-demand time slots without having to worry about low-cost competitors due to their underhanded tactics.

The former CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, has been mandated to attend a Senate select committee hearing to face intense questioning regarding the company's operational methods.

The controversy arises following Qantas being heavily criticized for granting complimentary membership to the esteemed Chairman's Lounge to Nathan Albanese, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's 21-year-old son.

In addition, Mr. Joyce disclosed on Thursday that the airline had achieved an unprecedented $2.47 billion profit, even though the number of passengers remained lower than in 2019.

Both Qantas and Virgin Australia have been criticized for monopolizing valuable airport runway slots in order to exclude budget competitors Bonza and Rex and maintain elevated ticket prices.

On Thursday, Alan Joyce disclosed that the airline had achieved an unprecedented profit of $2.47 billion, despite passenger figures staying below those of 2019.

The impressive recovery in earnings - recovering from a staggering loss of $1.86 billion the previous year - is a result of a significant surge in airfare rates, surpassing a remarkable 50 percent increase over the past twelve months, despite the decline in jet fuel expenses.

During the Covid pandemic, Qantas received around $2.7 billion in financial aid from the government, all the while terminating the employment of approximately 1,700 airport ground staff.

Qantas is currently dealing with a legal action initiated by customers who had their flights cancelled and were provided with credits instead of refunds. These customers claim that Qantas essentially treated their money as an unpaid loan without any interest.

On Thursday, Mr. Joyce maintained that the substantial earnings - criticized as 'outrageous' by labor union leaders - were a result of a significant corporate reorganization during the previous three years.

"This represents a remarkable transformation that has been in progress for three years. And it has been quite challenging," he expressed.

However, he asserted: 'Essentially, there is an incredibly strong desire for travel.'

The CEO, who has caused much debate, has declared that he will depart from the airline in November, having served as the leader for a remarkable 15 years. However, before his departure, he has been compelled to attend a Senate committee hearing.

He made an impressive $23.9million in earnings last year and is projected to bring in an estimated amount between $15million and $18million this year, inclusive of additional bonuses. Additionally, he will receive a further $6million as incentives upon his departure.

However, he declined to willingly attend Monday's Senate select committee session on the expense of livelihood to respond to queries concerning Qantas.

The airline executive was officially called by the committee to be interrogated by Labour senator Tony Sheldon regarding the prices of air tickets.

In the past half-year, the cost of both domestic and international air travel soared to unprecedented levels, surpassing pre-pandemic rates by a staggering 50%. However, these prices have recently experienced a slight decline.

Industry experts have identified a scarcity of aircrafts and flight personnel as the main culprit behind the limited flight availability, thereby leading to soaring ticket prices.

However, an investigation conducted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealed that the airline, along with Virgin Australia, was monopolizing valuable runway slots during peak hours in major airports to exclude low-cost competitors.

Refusing to give up the most sought-after flight slots during busy hours prevents Rex and Bonza from offering lower airfares when passengers prefer to travel, as stated by the ACCC.

However, instead of utilizing all their main runway slots, a Parliamentary investigation revealed that Qantas and Virgin Australia frequently opt to cancel flights abruptly.

The decision maintains the availability of tickets for their other flights, prevents competitors from acquiring the allocated time for takeoff and landing, and guarantees that prices for air travel stay elevated.

During the inquiry, it was revealed that around 10 percent of flights on the popular Sydney-Melbourne route are regularly canceled, with poor weather conditions or air traffic control being held responsible.

However, the investigation revealed that during certain months, nearly 50% of these cancellations occurred on days without any reported incidents of such nature.

Mr. Joyce vehemently criticized the proposal on Thursday and attributed staff illness and technical difficulties as the causes for other cancellations.

Mr. Joyce expressed his belief that this practice hinders the access of competitors to slots, and he strongly disagrees with it.

Qantas boasted the most minimal levels of flight cancellations compared to other leading airlines. It outperformed Virgin in this aspect.

He alleged that airports with a monopoly, such as Sydney, were trying to justify using Qantas's slots for different reasons in order to increase their own profits.

He emphasized that the cost of flying has decreased by 12% since December and mentioned that Jetstar has been offering discounted tickets to millions of travelers throughout the past year.

Qantas and Virgin Australia are being accused of abruptly canceling rush hour flights and falsely attributing the cancellations to nonexistent issues.

The decision ensures that their remaining flights are fully booked, prevents competitors like Rex from accessing the available runway space, and guarantees that airfare prices stay elevated.

He stated: 'Every business is vulnerable to elevated inflation currently.

We recognize the importance of budget-friendly journeys - Jetstar managed to sell more than nine million tickets priced below $100 during the fiscal year 2023.

According to a representative from Qantas, the claim made by Sydney airport that the airline is "hoarding" slots is completely rejected by Qantas.

Airlines that operate at Sydney Airport must utilize at least 80% of their assigned time slots to retain them.

Qantas is currently utilizing more than 90 percent of the slots assigned to them, which indicates that they are exceeding the required levels.

Qantas stated that the Senate committee had specifically chosen to scrutinize Mr. Joyce, and they had extended the invitation to other executives to participate in the hearing.

The spokesperson stated, "Qantas received an invitation to participate in a Senate committee hearing on the cost of living and was asked to assign suitable executives to represent our company, to which we complied."

Although the committee did not mandate the attendance of any other company CEO, they later demanded the presence of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, to which he will comply.

Virgin Australia also maintained that they were exerting maximum effort to address the situation.

A representative stated that our main priority is to offer excellent options and affordability to voyagers traveling within our national and nearby international destinations.

We have been maximizing our air travel operations and currently nearly reaching our full domestic capacity, equivalent to the levels before the COVID-19 pandemic.