The Australian competition watchdog today announced it has granted authorisation to Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways to allow them to engage in cooperative conduct under an integrated alliance for five years. The arrangement will double the frequency of flights currently operated by Qatar Airways alone between Doha and major Australian airports.

The decision to approve Qatar Airways’ partial purchase of Virgin Australia, made yesterday by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), has been welcomed by the travel trade, with travellers expected to reap the benefits.

Under interim authorisation granted by the ACCC today, Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways can start marketing and selling 28 weekly scheduled return flights between Doha and Australia.

The Australian Federal Court today ordered Qantas to pay $100 million in penalties for misleading consumers by offering and selling tickets for flights it had already cancelled, and failing to inform existing ticketholders promptly of its decision.

Qatar Airways Group has agreed to acquire a minority equity stake (25%) in Virgin Australia (from owner, Bain Capital) in a move that will give the Gulf carrier additional capacity into the lucrative Australian market. In a joint statement today, the Qatari and Australian airlines confirmed plans to strengthen their existing alliance even further, with new non-stop flights to Doha enhancing competition with rival partner airlines, Qantas and Emirates through Dubai.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has announced that APT and Travelmarvel have agreed to slash their COVID-19 cancellation charges to provide impacted customers with higher refunds.

A new report released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed that more than 1/4 of COVID-19 complaints from the public were related to travel agencies and airlines. Travel saw a nearly 500% increase in gripes for the period from 1 January to 31 October 2020, with a whopping 24,210 cases raised, up from 4,052 in 2019.

Qantas and China Eastern Airlines have been granted interim authorisation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for an extended Joint Coordination Agreement (JCA) enabling the carriers to continue to coordinate operations between Australia and mainland China until March 2022.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has applauded a decision by Etihad Airways to offer refunds to consumers who bought tickets with the airline in Australia which were subsequently cancelled due to the pandemic.

Virgin Australia has scratched a recently proposed partnership with other Australian-based airlines, telling the competition regulator it was unlikely to assist it or its customers due to changed market conditions.

Virgin Australia has withdrawn a controversial proposal to enable it and other airlines to collective bargain with airports as part of a wider application before the ACCC.

Virgin Australia has been lambasted by domestic airports for a proposed collective bargaining agreement it is seeking to adopt in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.