Originally Posted by
SIUYA
The skies above Australia have long symbolised freedom, exploration, and connection.
Hahahah. No they haven’t. There’s always been an element of protectionism and government intervention in the Australian market, and not just from the Australian government. QF’s main international competitors are either state owned, partially state funded or receive very generous support and protectionism from their own government.
It’s a bit rich for QR to claim that the Australian government is interfering in the market to aid their own airline, it’s the government of Qatar that bankrolled QR to fly near empty 777s around the world during Covid to maintain a flag carrier presence. Any carrier operating those flights under free market principles would’ve gone bust within days.
Middle Eastern carriers tried to make a dent in the US market in about 2015, there was a lot of talk as the US carrier banded together and successfully lobbied their government to restrict the expansion of the ME3 into the US to protect local jobs and profits. US aviation unions also have a lot more sway and influence than Australian unions in pushing that protectionism for their local industry, but I can’t deny that at some level behind the scenes local Australian unions are lobbying for more protectionism for local jobs.