Qantas and Qatar at war - Oneworld could be the loser

QATAR A380-861 A7-APD (CN 160)               File Photo

Qatar Airways is tipped to walk out of the global Oneworld airline alliance, driven by a dispute with Qantas over the Middle Eastern carrier's aggressive push into Australia. The conflict came to a head last week when Qatar's chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker publicly accused Qantas of failing to act "in the spirit" of the alliance by lobbying against it being granted more flight rights into Australia.

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“I don’t see any point in us continuing to stay a part of Oneworld when other partners see us as a threat", Al Baker said at an event in Spain last week, as reported by Bloomberg.

Oneworld member airlines give each other's passengers perks like loyalty points, access to airport lounges, and share some booking capability.

Al Baker is renowned for making outlandish and controversial statements, and has previously threatened to quit Oneworld over a similar dispute with American Airlines.
But senior industry figures have told Fairfax Media the latest dispute may be the final straw, and say Qatar could finally leave Oneworld after a meeting of its 13 airline members in New York in early December.
Qatar currently flies from Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth to its hub Doha, where it connects to dozens of destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

QATAR B777-3DZ A7-BAF (CN 37661)            File Photo

The carrier has been trying to launch flights to Brisbane but Qantas - which also has a formal alliance with Qatar's Middle East rival Emirates - has been successfully lobbying against Qatar's expansion, arguing the state-owned airline is dumping capacity and being "uncommercial and uncompetitive" by selling tickets below cost-price.

QANTAS B787-9 VH-ZND (CN 63390)            File Photo

Qantas points to research by a US airline lobby group that claims Qatar Airways has received over $US17 billion in state aid and interest free loans from Qatar’s sovereign wealth, as well as other support.

"This distorts markets and threatens the sustainable operation of international carriers to Australia," Qantas said in a letter circulated to key industry and political figures earlier this month and seen by Fairfax Media.

"We welcome healthy competition – however it must be fair."

Qatar's services to Doha from Canberra, which stop and collect more passengers in Sydney, have also incensed Qantas, which accuses it of using government policy designed to boost flights to regional airports as a "Trojan horse" to increase its access to Sydney.

Government data shows that in July, the Canberra-Sydney leg of the service flew with only 14 per cent of the seats filled.
A Qantas spokesman declined to comment further on the matter, but its chief executive Alan Joyce told the South China Morning Post last week that "nobody should be in an alliance where they believe its not working for them".
"If Qatar feel they [would] do better outside of Oneworld, that is up to them," Mr Joyce told the Hong Kong newspaper, adding that Qantas' partnership with Emirates would mean his passengers would not be affected by Qatar's exit.
Industry figures say former federal transport minister Darren Chester indicated to the Qatari government last year that Australia was open to granting Qatar Airways flights to Brisbane, but that was put on hold under his short-lived replacement Barnaby Joyce.
The Current transport minister, deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, is now pushing back by proposing a "fair competition clause" be inserted in the agreement governing air services between the two countries.
While tightly under wraps, sources says the clause would force Qatar Airways to hand over commercial data about its ticket prices.
"These matters are under consideration and there are ongoing discussions between the Department and Qatari officials, as has been the case for some time," a spokesman for Mr McCormack said.
"The deputy PM does not comment on decisions made by former ministers in the portfolio."
A spokesman for Oneworld said that "as in any family, there are times when our member airlines have differences on specific issues", and the alliance hoped they could be resolved quickly.
Oneworld is one of the big three airline alliances, along with Star Alliance, which includes Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand, and Skyteam, which includes Delta and Air France.
Qatar's exit would remove about 30 destinations, and five countries, from Oneworld's network, leaving it with about 1000 destinations and 150 countries.
It would take Qatar one year to leave the alliance, and it would have to pay several million dollars in exit fees. Qatar declined to comment.

Full story sourced from here. Images are mine.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-qantas-and-qatar-spat-that-could-rupture-the-oneworld-alliance-20181115-p50g5p.html