Leaving out all the bull**** going on at Qantas, I really believe the carbon tax is part of the problem for airlines performing poorly domestically. Rex said that the reason why their net profit was down by 45% from the previous year was mostly because of the carbon tax. Same with Virgin Australia, there carbon tax bill was $47.9 million, and virgin are losing about $50 million per year (when you exclude the costs of investing in Skywest and Tiger). Look at Qantas, the carbon tax bill was $106 million. Sure, the carbon tax is not the only answer, but in the short term, it would help out the aviation industry if it gets abolished.
I know this link is a few years old but it's worth a read.
http://www.rex.com.au/NewspaperClip/...rbon%20Tax.pdf