WhatsNew2Day – Latest News And Breaking Headlines
Qantas’ new CEO Vanessa Hudson has received a baptism of fire after being accused of trying to channel her predecessor Alan Joyce by failing to answer questions at a Senate inquiry.
The new chief executive was blasted by transport inquiry chairwoman Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie for failing to prepare to answer questions about Yes campaign logos painted on the side of Qantas jets on Wednesday .
“I hope you’ll respect, the filibuster could have been the former CEO’s strategy,” she said. “I don’t like the current one.”
Qantas showed its support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament by adding a Yes design to the side of three of its planes in August.
New Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson (pictured) has been given a baptism of fire after being accused of trying to channel her predecessor Alan Joyce by failing to answer questions at a Senate inquiry.
Ms Hudson had to answer a question about who made the decision for the planes to be adorned with the design on notice.
When asked who made the decision to support the Yes campaign, the airline said the decision was taken by Mr Joyce and in consultation with the group’s executive committee, not the board of directors. airline administration.
Mr Joyce will not appear before the inquiry after his lawyers confirmed on Tuesday that due to “personal obligations” overseas he would not be able to appear before the commission’s report deadline.
However, committee chair Bridget McKenzie said he would nonetheless be called to appear on his return to Australia.
Ms Hudson was blasted by transport inquiry chair Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie (pictured) for not being prepared to answer questions about Yes campaign logos painted on the side of Qantas jets on Wednesday.
Sydney Airport slots are ‘frankly ridiculous’
Former consumer watchdog Rod Sims has slammed the “frankly ridiculous” slot machine system – which dictates take-off and landing times – at Sydney Airport.
Qantas and Virgin have been accused of ousting smaller rival airlines from the country’s busiest airport.
Mr Sims said reform was needed to hand the slot allocation process to an independent body.
“If you can’t get slots at Sydney Airport, you just can’t get into the industry,” he said.
He also said the way Australia currently negotiated bilateral air services agreements was “holding back the economy”.
“We need a bilateral aviation agreement that defines these arrangements based on the Australian traveling public and the Australian economy, and it doesn’t matter what the other side does.”
Virgin boss Qatar’s bombshell claims
Virgin Australia has criticized the government’s decision to reject Qatar Airways’ request to double its flight capacity, saying there was “no coherent logic” behind the call.
The airline’s chief executive, Jayne Hrdlicka, appeared before a Senate inquiry into the decision, describing two conversations she had with Transport Minister Catherine King before the final decision was made.
At the first meeting, held in January this year, Ms Hrdlicka said the two men discussed Qatar’s candidacy for “five minutes at best”.
But she left “comfortable” enough, despite a mention from then-Qantas boss Alan Joyce, who was unhappy with the candidacy, not to raise the issue when she welcomed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as as President of Tennis Australia.
“I had the very distinct impression that the decision to move forward was very compelling and imminent,” she said Wednesday.
The minister discussed the Doha airport incident with Virgin in May
But four months later, in May, Ms. Hrdlicka said Ms. King had changed her mind.
“The minister indicated that there was some challenge regarding the Doha airport incident in 2020,” the Virgin chief said.
Ms King has repeatedly said she rejected Qatar’s request in the “national interest” but admitted the incident was relevant “context” for her decision.
Earlier this month, Ms King revealed her decision was made on July 10, the same day she wrote to Australian women detained by Qatari authorities at Doha airport in 2020.
During the incident, five Australian women were removed from a plane at gunpoint and strip searched after authorities found a newborn baby in a trash bin.
Following Ms Hrdlicka’s conversation with Ms King, she requested a meeting with Mr Albanese, which was not granted until July 13, three days after Qatar’s decision.
“He also expressed concern about the Doha airport incident in 2020,” Ms Hrdlicka said, revealing she had not received any indication that a decision had been made.
“This surprised me, given my understanding that there had been a diplomatic resolution on the issue between the government of Qatar and the federal government.”
Virgin confirmed it was still waiting for a formal response from the government to a letter it wrote after the decision was made public.
Earlier on Wednesday, Fathi Atti, Qatar Airways’ senior vice president of aeropolitical and commercial affairs, said the incident was not raised with the airline during the government’s review of the request.
But the airline’s senior vice president of global sales, Matt Raos, assured the “very extreme” incident was “unique.”
“We view this as an isolated issue and are committed to ensuring this does not happen again,” Raos said.
“Let me assure you that we have never experienced this very extreme incident in our history, and we are fully committed to ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again.”
When asked by Senator Sheldon whether Qatar was voluntarily engaging in a mediation process undertaken by the women involved, the airline had to take note of the question.
Qatar says it was informed of its decision by the media
Qatar Airways was “surprised and shocked” to learn its request to double its flights to Australia had been rejected by the government.
Mr. Raos said he learned of the decision through the media and did not receive official news until six days later.
“We were surprised and shocked by the Australian government’s decision to reject our request for additional flights to Australia,” he told a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday morning.
“What is even more surprising is that the government has not given us any reason to reject our application.”
Mr Atti told the inquiry that the carrier requested the 28 additional flights on August 22, 2022.
It was not until July 10, 2023 that the airline learned of Ms. King’s decision via the media. An official letter, dated July 14, was not received by Qatar until July 20, Mr. Atti said.
The letter is understood to have been emailed by the Ministry of Transport to the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority on the same day it was dated.
But Labor senator Tony Sheldon insisted the first mention of Qatar’s move was only made to the media on July 18.
“We can verify that,” Mr. Atti replied.
Qatar’s move against Qantas
Mr Raos said Qatar added 48,000 weekly seats to Australia at the start of the pandemic, making it the country’s largest international carrier in 2020.
He stressed, in a thinly veiled statement to Qantas, that the airline had “never stopped reimbursing our customers and travel agents during Covid-19”.
The airline, however, is not convinced by the government’s claim that the refusal of additional flights was motivated by national interest.
Qatar estimated that the additional flights would have generated around $3 billion in economic benefits over five years.
Mr Raos said the airline was contesting the “outcome” of the decision. The senior vice president said in a best-case scenario the airline could provide additional services to Australians around Christmas.
Australian Airports Association president James Goodwin said the industry was also “surprised” by the government’s call.
He told the Senate inquiry the sector would like more information on “how and why” the decision was made.
“Australia is very far from the rest of the world. And it makes sense to have so many open-air carriers to be able to get more carriers in and out of Australia,” he said.
“It’s a good thing for Australians who want to visit family and friends. It’s good for inbound tourism and it’s also good for cargo exports.