The Australian government didn’t bail out Ansett, hasn’t really provided too much help for QF and has let foreign carriers dominate the international market. The only decision recently that has benefitted domestic carriers was the decision not to allow foreign cabotage in 2015, although there were plenty in cabinet at the time who wanted it and they’ll probably try again some time soon.
Quite right Dr.
The Open skies and privatised airports have created inflow that a home grown airline has had to combat. Qantas deploying Jetstar is a rational, albeit misguided at times response.
Just as the private airport operators in Brisbane wanted up front millions from Qantas for a runway available in seven years was nothing more than thinly veiled extortion.
With respect to the US market, their protectionism is exceptional, all dressed up in nationalistic rhetoric.
Students of the industry will recall that the Deregulation of the US airline industry in 1978 produced initial competition before returning to a comfy oligopoly, where airlines of scale (with few exceptions) dominated both airfares and capacity..
Deregulation US style saw some nation states in Europe remove capacity constraints, opting for a "free market" with their US competitors.
Unfortunately as one of the first to try found out, the scale of the US carriers decimated their home grown airline.
The US love competition, provided of course their scale means they are the apex competitor.
Qantas is the same, crying out against monopoly price behaviour when they act exactly the same in their markets.
Sadly, with the regions most highly remunerated CEO leading the charge, relevant issues of competition and market structure are drowned out by staggering duplicity.