Qantas debacle is a sign that Australia's once thriving airline industry - home to 16 airlines and the envy of the world - must put customers first again
Plane travel connected communities across our continent and to the world when our geography made ships, road, and rail too slow. Despite our small population of just seven million people Australia was host to 16 airlines, with the industry expanding at double the pace of global averages; Australia also ranked sixth in the world in terms of the number of air miles travelled.
Australia is ill-served by an oligopoly system of air services at a domestic level and a perception the fortunes of Qantas, as the national carrier, should be prioritised over the Australian public’s access to cheaper fares and better service levels, writes Georgina Downer. Picture: NCA NewsWire In a victory of sorts for private industry, the High Court determined that while the Chifley Government was allowed to operate an airline through a statutory authority, it couldn’t do so as a monopoly.TAA proved a ferocious competitor and backed by favourable government arrangements deliberately not made available to the private sector it drove ANA to the point of bankruptcy.