Surely developing routes and assessing their viability is the job of airlines.
It also the job of Airports, who have business units devoted to cultivating, encouraging, and enticing airlines to commence, maintain, or increase services to their airport. They are not turning away new services, QF are. The Saffer pax will still come and go, just on SAA, as they do now. QF are just trying to scoop the cream off the top by only flying seasonally. Joyce is just going the petulant child routine again.