JOINT JAPAN FLIGHTS MAKE SENSE POST-COVID

AIRLINES have been the hardest hit by the COVID pandemic. Thousands of jobs have been lost or are on hold, international routes have been decimated and aircraft have been mothballed.

Australia’s two biggest operators, Qantas and Virgin, have lost billions of dollars but are determined to survive.

They have had to think innovatively and cooperatively as the future is planned.

One of the most promising sources of travellers expected to rebound strongly for the Far North is Japan.

The Land of the Rising Sun was once the region’s biggest tourism market. The Japanese loved the Reef and rainforests.

Then Qantas pulled out of the route with Jetstar later taking over with direct flights between Osaka and Tokyo.

The Japanese prefer full service carriers, numbers fell and then China swooped in and dominated the segment.

Qantas and Japan Airlines put a proposal to the Australian Competiton and Consumer Commission for a joint operation between the two countries as well as flights to New Zealand.

Qantas says it cannot do it alone and needed a venture with JAL.

The ACCC has indicated it will not approve the deal, saying it breaches competition laws.

There has never been competition on the Cairns-Japan route, so the ACCC’s reasoning fails.

The commission needs to be more realistic in the post-COVID era.

Airlines will have to change their business models and how they operate on various routes. That will mean working with other carriers.

The ACCC needs to reconsider, especially the Cairns-Japan proposal. Nick Dalton

Deputy editor