The head of Canberra Airport has laid into Qantas over the airline's "massive" number of cancellations between Sydney and the ACT.
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"Qantas appears to have a plan to cancel 50 flights a month between Canberra and Sydney. Every month," the airport's chief executive Stephen Byron said.
He accused Qantas of "anti-competitive" behaviour by booking take-off and landing slots in Sydney "which it has no intention of using".
Mr Byron says Qantas has secured the slots to keep other airlines from using them. It then cancels its own flights and delays the booked passengers until later flights.
"I'm fed up with this because customers are copping the brunt of it."
Qantas rejected the allegation.
"Canberra Airport knows full well that air traffic control shortages in Sydney are causing more cancellations, with flights on dozens of days so far this year impacted by the shortages," a spokesperson said.
The airline said it cancelled flights on routes like Canberra-Sydney "because customers can be moved to one of dozens of other flights each day, meaning it's less disruptive".
"In Qantas' case, customers are generally moved to another flight 30 to 60 minutes from their original flight."
But Mr Byron is not convinced. He detects a strategy (rather than just a run of bad weather or staff shortages) because he says a pattern is emerging: Qantas cancelled 51 Canberra-Sydney flights in April (12 per cent of its schedule on the route), 51 flights in March (11 per cent) and 51 in February (13 per cent), according to the airport's figures.
"Qantas is cancelling a massive number of flights between Canberra and Sydney," Mr Byron said. "It's unacceptable."
He says Virgin Australia only cancelled around two per cent of its Canberra-Sydney flights in March and April so Qantas' claim that air traffic control problems were behind its cancellations doesn't stand up.
He called for tougher penalties. "Passengers deserve to be compensated with cash compensation, not with rubbery flight credits but with cash compensation," he said.
"And the truth is that unless you have a financial penalty for Qantas, they are going to continue this disrespectful disregard of passengers."
The competition regulator is concerned about the airline industry.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took aim at Qantas but also Virgin Australia, the two airlines which dominate the industry to the detriment of incomers like Rex and Bonza (and to the detriment of passengers).
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The ACCC said there was a lack of competition which resulted in "higher airfares and poorer service for consumers".
"Without a real threat of losing passengers to other airlines, the Qantas and Virgin Australia airline groups have had less incentive to offer attractive airfares, develop more direct routes, operate more reliable services, and invest in systems to provide high levels of customer service," ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
Slots at Sydney Airport are allocated according to rules set by the government. Airlines ask the "slot manager" for times to take-off and land. If the airline cancels anything up to 20 per cent of its allocation, there is no penalty and slots are not taken away from it.
The ACCC wants the rules and the law changed. "Access to peak time slots at Sydney Airport is critical for new and expanding airlines seeking to build an intercity network,' the ACCC chair said.
"Without legislative reform to the airport's demand management scheme there will not be any material improvement in domestic airline competition in Australia in the foreseeable future."
Sydney Airport is also frustrated by the number of flights in and out which are cancelled. Apart from domestic competition being restricted when Qantas hogs slots it doesn't use, international carriers are also kept out, forcing up fares on international routes.
"The problem is that the current rules don't work," a spokesperson for Sydney Airport said.
"We endorse the ACCC's common-sense position that the slot management scheme should foster efficiency and robust competition. Making it easier for new domestic and international airlines to access slots will lead to more choice for travellers."
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