Qantas flights taken by the political class tens of millions of dollars dearer than competitor

Coalition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said on Saturday that Labor had done nothing to make sure public officials were following the travel policy and selecting the lowest fare.

“The prime minister just wants to protect his favoured, dominant airline,” she said. “Labor has allowed the government’s contracted travel provider to consistently favour Qantas.”

McKenzie was dragged into the story herself this week when she denied taking an upgrade, then had to admit she had.

McKenzie argued the review into travel rules being conducted by the Finance Department was unnecessary because the problem was obvious and easily fixable. This travel rule review was announced in September in response to the Aviation White Paper, which was released in August.

“They just need to act to ensure the government’s travel provider offers public servants the lowest-cost practical fare the first time, rather than offering Qantas as the default,” McKenzie said.

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A Finance Department spokesman said the review should be completed by year’s end.

Debate about Qantas’ influence over government decision-making, which featured the denial last year of flight rights to Qatar Aiways (to the benefit of Qantas and its partner Emirates), flared last week when a book by journalist Joe Aston, formerly of The Australian Financial Review, alleged Albanese repeatedly sought upgrades from former Qantas boss Alan Joyce for personal overseas holidays.

Virgin, which competes against Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar, said in that January submission that its fares were approximately 30 per cent cheaper on average, meaning the lowest-fare policy was being breached and the government was overspending on flights by tens of millions of dollars.

“These spending patterns serve to entrench Qantas’ dominance and deny Virgin Australia a real opportunity to attract government and corporate passengers,” its submission said.

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“The pervasiveness of Qantas Chairman’s Lounge Membership amongst Australians of influence, including politicians, also sheds light on these decisions.”

When MPs or their staff want to book flights they use a private travel service, which provides flight options and then books the flight. Several MPs said the travel agency often gave no option other than Qantas flights, even though they were not the cheapest and other flights were available at a similar time.

Special Minister of State Don Farrell, who is responsible for parliamentary expenditure, has said previously that flights are booked through a service run by Corporate Travel Management, The Australian Financial Review reported last month.

“Parliamentarians are personally responsible and accountable for their use of public resources and should be prepared to publicly explain and support their decisions to use public resources, including airfares,” Senator Farrell wrote in response to questions from Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, who had requested the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority figures from the government.

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“Staff of parliamentarians travel as directed by their employing parliamentarian and must travel in accordance with the conditions as outlined in their employment framework.”

The government policy allows a higher fare to be picked if no other appropriate flights are available. Qantas is the only carrier for some less-travelled routes such as Canberra to Perth.

While the $250 million yearly government spend is a small segment of Australia’s overall aviation market, the profit margin on corporate travel is high and filling out the business class section is financially important to airlines.

Virgin added in its submission: “Over and above that, these spending patterns serve to entrench Qantas’ dominance and deny Virgin Australia a real opportunity to attract government and corporate passengers, with flow-on effects for leisure services and the attractiveness of the Velocity program.”

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