Akbar al-Baker said he was surprised by the rejection as the airline had been “so supportive of Australia” during the pandemic.
The Australian government’s decision to block Qatar Airways’ request for additional flights to Australia was “very unfair,” the airline’s CEO Akbar al-Baker told CNN in an interview.
“We thought it was very unfair [for] our legitimate request not to be granted, especially at a time when we were so supportive of Australia,” al-Baker said, adding that he was “very surprised” by the decision.
“[We were] repatriating their stranded citizens from around the world to and from Australia, to help them receive medical supplies and spare parts, etc. during the COVID-19 period,” al-Baker said. “The national carrier and its partners have completely ceased operations in Australia. We were there for the people of Australia.”
The Doha-based airline had requested 21 additional flights to Australia’s major airports. But Australia’s Transport Minister Catherine King formally rejected her bid to add flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in July, saying the proposal was not in Australia’s interests.
During the pandemic, Qatar Airways flights to Australia continued, carrying just 20 people per flight, while flights operated by Qantas, Australia’s national carrier, remained grounded.
Accusations
Earlier this week, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he was not consulted when the country’s transport minister decided to block Qatar Airways’ request.
Last week, King, the Transport Minister, said that “the context” for her decision to suspend flights from Qatar Airways was related to invasive physical examinations carried out on a group of Australian women at Qatar’s Hamad International Airport in Doha.
In October 2020, more than a dozen female passengers in Qatar were subjected to “invasive” and “humiliating” internal investigations after a newborn baby was found abandoned at the airport.
King’s decision faced intense political criticism and she was accused of protecting Qantas, whose former CEO, Alan Joyce, claimed that allowing Qatar the extra capacity would “disrupt” the local aviation market.
The airline, which has admitted to lobbying against Qatar Airways’ bid, has also faced criticism over a series of recent controversies, including allegations that it sold around 8,000 tickets for flights it knew had already been cancelled.
Public anger at the Australian airline – which controls more than 60 percent of the domestic market – culminated in Joyce’s resignation.
Australia’s National Party leader and chair of a government inquiry into the decision to block Qatar Airways’ request, Bridget McKenzie, openly accused the government of protectionism.
“I believe they are protecting Qantas,” McKenzie told Sky News.