Originally Posted by
Deano969
With QF struggling to maintain a presence on the Kangaroo Route, I ask one simple question
Why does the vast majority of Australian passengers heading to and from Europe end up on the ME3 and Asian carriers ?
Ancient 3rd and 4th freedom rights permit this, but we are now in 2017 folks
What gives the right for Asian and Middle East carriers to profit from people flying from (eg) Australia to UK or Australia to NZ
In the case of Australia to Europe, these flights are sold as direct, with a refueling stop or change of aircraft at a hub
As these are just hub and spoke flights the likes of the ME3 and Asian Carriers will always be able to do the flight at a cheaper price
It is not a level playing field....
There is however, a simple solution
1) A minimum stopover of 3 days required for any foreign carrier selling seats from Australia to Europe
2) Selling tickets from Australia to NZ only permitted for non Australian residents on foreign airlines
Point 1 allows genuine passengers who would like to visit multi destinations on a trip, the freedom to do so and legitimize the stop over, all be it at a cost
Point 2 stops foreign carriers utilizing aircraft that would otherwise sit in Australia waiting for a time schedule window for the return flight, to compete on a route they have no investment in and plundering Australian and New Zealand carriers passengers
Would this inhibit free trade and open skies ? YES, but so what....
It would however, give our airlines a fair go and create more jobs for Australia and New Zealand in the aviation industry
OZ is bankrupt. We need all the tourists we can get.