Qantas representatives, including CEO Alan Joyce, were grilled at a public hearing into the cost of living in Australia. These are the key takeaways.
— a record for the airline, which came after it recorded an almost $2 billion loss the year before.There's lots of criticism of corporate profits at the moment, due in large part to the cost-of-living pressures happening in parallel and we understand that," Joyce said at the hearing, held in Melbourne, on Monday.
In May this year in the wake of forecasts that showed Qantas was on track to record a $2.5 billion profit, the Transport Workers' Union said the airline should pay back the government assistance it received atthe height of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I’ve kept that for all seven prime ministers and I have no intention of changing my approach," he said.Millions of customers who were unable to take their flights due to COVID-19 interruptions in previous years were provided credit to use on flights instead of refunds.
It heard media campaigns, advertising, and text messages were being used to encourage people to claim the credits and get the balance to zero by the end of December.Despite constant questioning on the topic by Opposition senator Matt Canavan on the topic, Joyce refused to reveal whether any family members of any politicians had been provided free memberships to the invite-only Qantas Chairman's lounge.
Canavan said Qantas potentially has "a financial interest in managing capacity on these routes" because fewer flights mean airlines were "able to charge higher prices from restricting that capacity."
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