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Virgin returns serve with call for Qantas marketshare investigation

written by australianaviation.com.au | November 28, 2013

Virgin Australia, too, is now calling for a level playing field. (Seth Jaworski)
Virgin Australia, too, is now calling for a level playing field. (Seth Jaworski)

Virgin Australia has issued a statement calling for an investigation into Qantas’s so-called “line in the sand” publicly stated goal of maintaining 65 per cent marketshare of Australian domestic airline travel.

Reads the statement, issued on Thursday afternoon: “Over the last three years, Virgin Australia has had a consistent strategy of bringing strong competition to all key market segments, including the corporate, government, regional, leisure and budget segments.

“We have made significant progress in this regard, despite our major competitor’s publically-stated strategy of maintaining a 65 per cent share of the Australian domestic aviation market at all costs. Virgin Australia believes that a level playing field should include a full and proper investigation of our major competitor’s 65 per cent ‘line in the sand’ policy.”

The statement falls short of calling Qantas anti-competitive, and does not say which entity Virgin thinks should investigate Qantas’s marketshare policy.

The call for a “level playing field” echos Qantas’s own comments about the need for the changes to the Qantas Sale Act, which it says disadvantages it against a majority foreign-owned Virgin Australia.

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The dispute arose from Virgin raising over $300 million in an equity rights raising from major shareholders Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and Etihad.

“The Qantas Sale Act is a matter between the government and Qantas,” the Virgin statement notes.

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Comments (3)

  • Craig

    says:

    Thank god some people are questioning qantas i woukd like to remind people qantas has only been flying domestically fully since it bought out TAA out in 1993 . Qantas was more intetnational before then and every route virgin challenged joyce cries foul .

  • Ante C

    says:

    It’s a lost battle for Virgin already. I’m not sure why they’ve called Qantas ‘anti-competitive’, because Qantas wanting to keep the highest marketshare sounds pretty competitive to me. If Virgin want a ‘level playing field’, then they’re going to have to work harder and find more strategies themselves if they’re going to get to where they want to be.

  • Dicko - Harvey Dickinson

    says:

    How about that, an airline owned by three foreign governments, a disinterested foreigner and a few aussies asking for our government to help them make money. Tell em to go bite their _ _ _ Joe. By the way AA make sure you print those Qantas press releases in full, won’t you. We have to get some balance into your publication
    somehow !

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