Qantas breaks silence over ACCC allegations

The Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane arrives at Sydney International Airport after flying direct from New York on Sunday, October 20, 2019 in Australia. Qantas will operate the flights later this year, with medical scientists and health experts on board to conduct studies in the cockpit and the cabin to help determine strategies to promote long haul inflight health and wellbeing on ultra-long haul flights. It will be the first commercial airline to ever fly direct from New York to Sydney. It comes as the national carrier continues to work towards the final frontier of global aviation by launching non-stop commercial flights between the US and the UK to the east coast of Australia in an ambitious project dubbed

Qantas says it will continue to review allegations made by the ACCC, according to a statement released by the airline on Monday.

It says it “will have more to say once we’ve had that opportunity.”

“Understandably, these allegations have caused significant concern among our customers, our people and the general community. We want to address those allegations as best we can without cutting across the legal process we are now involved in, which follows an ACCC investigation with which we fully co-operated.

“The period of time that the ACCC’s claims relate to, in mid-2022, was one of well-publicised upheaval and uncertainty across the aviation industry, as Qantas struggled to restart post-COVID. We openly acknowledge that our service standards fell well short and we sincerely apologise. We have worked hard to fix them since and that work continues,” the statement said.

“Some commentary has suggested that Qantas was engaged in charging a ‘fee for no service’ due to cancelled flights over this period. Our longstanding practice is that when a flight is cancelled, customers are offered an alternative flight as close as possible to their original departure time, or a refund.

“The ACCC’s allegations come at a time when Qantas’ reputation has already been hit hard on several fronts. We want the community to know that we hear and understand their disappointment. We know that the only way to fix it is by delivering consistently. We know it will take time to repair. And we are absolutely determined to do that.”

The statement ended with a thank you to all staff within the company.

“To the 25,000 people who make up the Qantas Group, we say thank you. Every day, you are focused on carrying customers safely to their destination and your professionalism in doing so is superb,” it said.

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