Virgin Australia’s claims that Qantas remains the dominant carrier to and from Australia have been rejected by the flag carrier as it sought to deflect criticisms of its proposed tie-up with Emirates.
Virgin told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) earlier this month that far from being in a perilous position, Qantas International was a “strong and vigorous competitor”.
But Qantas said in its latest submission to the ACCC that such an assertion “materially overstates Qantas International‘s market position”.
On its own, Qantas International holds a 17% market share, it said, rising to around 25% combined with Jetstar.
“This is a very low market share for the national carrier,” it said.
By comparison, Qantas said Singapore Airlines holds a 39% share in its home market, Cathay Pacific 38% in Hong Kong while Emirates operates more than 50% of services to and from Dubai.
Qantas also dismissed objections to the alliance from the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association, branding the union's comments as "neither objective nor independent".
