The aviation game is at risk of becoming biased and unfair, according to Qantas ceo Alan Joyce.
Speaking at the CAPA Aviation Summit this morning, Joyce said that when the same rules aren’t applied to all airlines equally, it is “penalising airlines and taking away fair competition.”
“You have rules and you think those rules are going to be applied fairly,” Joyce said.
“It’s a real issue for the industry.”
Speaking about Jetstar’s rejection to fly into Hong Kong, Joyce said the decision was “unjustified”.
“We’ve been unable to start services in Hong Kong, which we could’ve been and should’ve been doing.”
“We’re all about the same rules being applied to the operators in the same market,” Joyce added.
“When different rules are applied to different carriers in different ways, that’s a distortion and it needs to be changed.”
“Those rules, if they were applied to Cathay, would mean Cathay wouldn’t be allowed to operate in Hong Kong.”
“We were surprised by the blatant application of rules to Qantas that weren’t applied to Cathay.”
“We were extremely disappointed, and also worried about what that means in terms of protectionism, and we need to make sure going forward that rules are followed.”
Joyce added that the partnership with China Eastern is a way the airlines can make Shanghai another important hub.
“We hope to make shanghai more competitive to Singapore and Hong Kong,” he said.
“This partnership with China Eastern is a push to shift the major hub from Hong Kong to Shanghai. We want to offer more competition, and the best way to do that is with China Eastern.”
