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A Qatar Airways Boeing 777 taxiing at Sydney Airport. The airline’s request to increase flights on its Australian routes has been denied.Credit:iStock

The move is in stark contrast to the inaction of the Australian government,which has no appetite for ensuring that Australian travellers receive fair and reasonable treatment from our airlines. Our airlines are free to write their own terms and conditions as they please without fear of legislation that makes them do otherwise. That’s despite a growing mountain of evidence of shoddy treatment of air travellers by some of our airlines,and Qantas is the main offender.

The government recentlydenied a request from Qatar Airways to boost the number of flights it operates into Australia. The airline was proposing to add 21 flights a week between Doha and Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane. This would add about 7000 seats a week,and increased supply would exert downward pressure on the outrageous prices that air travellers are having to pay for international flights.

Without saying why,Transport Minister Catherine King stated:“The Australian government is not considering additional bilateral air rights with Qatar.”

The Qatar Airways proposal was opposed by Qantas,which is reaping massive financial rewards from the relative lack of capacity on international routes out of Australia,and the consequent high prices. The airline’s chief executive,Alan Joyce,hasdenied Qantas exerted influence over the decision.

Speaking of the opposition to the US legislation,Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said,“To be very blunt,the major obstacle to improving service is the industry’s lobbying.”

The industry “has dollars and lawyers and lobbyists that enable it to block effective reform”.

The industry he was referring to is the airline industry.

In the case of the Australian government,allowing airline lobbyists to dictate terms that override the interests of consumers shows a spineless dereliction of duty on the part of those whom we trust to protect us.