Let’s stop pretending Qantas is just a well-run airline. It’s not.
It’s a state-protected cartel masquerading as a national icon, and it’s time someone said so — plainly and without genuflecting to the ghost of Alan Joyce. Oh yes and should we be talking about that horrendous data leak? Despicable behaviour.
Right now, Qantas Group — including its loyal attack pawn Jetstar — commands the air like a medieval baron controls trade routes. Not just with pricing power, but with institutionalized privilege that chokes new entrants, stalls innovation, and ensures that real competition is left to die quietly on the tarmac.
Let me explain and give a little colour.
Jetstar vs Virgin: A “Competition” In Name Only
Jetstar doesn’t just compete — it crushes. It’s the terminator of Australia’s low-cost aviation. When Bonza collapsed in 2024, Jetstar barely blinked. When Tigerair folded in 2020, Qantas actually bragged. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia, once a vibrant mid-tier competitor, was brought to its knees during COVID and only narrowly avoided death via a US buyout from Bain Capital (who did very nicely thank you).
Today, Australia’s domestic market is effectively a two-horse race: Qantas/Jetstar and a bruised but recovering Virgin. Together, they carry 94–95% of passengers. That’s not a market. That’s an oligopoly with press releases.
And if you’re a traveller? You’re footing the bill. The ACCC itself reported a 22.6% increase in airfares compared to pre-pandemic levels — and yet it seems strangely unwilling to confront the beast it helped fatten. And go check. The price to fly in Oz is one of the highest costs in the world. Indeed the prime trunk route is among the top 10 revenue earners on the planet.
Sydney Slots: Qantas’s House Always Wins
Let’s talk about Sydney Airport. For years, Qantas and Virgin literally ran the slot allocation system. They were the judges, jury, and executioners for who gets to fly and when. And wouldn’t you know it? They just happened to gobble up all the peak-time slots, leaving crumbs for challengers.
Even after the government finally brought in independent management (ACL UK) in 2025, the damage was done. The old slot hoarding practices had already kneecapped Bonza and blocked Rex from meaningful expansion on major trunk routes.
The solution - Western Sydney still has only a handful of airlines committed. Last time I checked that did not include the incumbents at SYD.
You can paint it any way you want but the obviousness of the situation is that Qantas used the system to entrench its dominance and weaponized Sydney’s constraints to shut out competition.
Where Was the ACCC? Hint: Holding a Wet Noodle
The ACCC (Australia's competition "watch dog" deserves more than criticism. It deserves a formal inquiry.
For years, it’s watched the domestic aviation market collapse into a stitched-up duopoly and offered little more than toothless press releases. In 2023, it even praised Qantas for “strong results” while noting fare increases and “limited competition.”
Where was the watchdog when Bonza was being slowly suffocated by an inability to access slots or secure fuel contracts at competitive rates? When Jetstar kept growing unimpeded? When Qantas was making billions in profit off the back of a hollowed-out market?
The regulator also declined to investigate any bad activity at Bonza which was altogether rather fishy.
Incompetence is one explanation. Regulatory capture is another. Those profits are obscene.
Government Picks Winners: The Case of Rex
And then there’s Rex Airlines. A regional workhorse now being publicly cuddled by the government. Direct investment and operational flexibility make Rex look increasingly like a state-sponsored favorite — even as other airlines bleed out without a lifeline.
This isn’t just favoritism. It raises a brutal question: Was the government’s selective support part of the reason Bonza failed?
Bonza’s U.S.-backed owners had flaws, sure. They launched aggressively into the territory. But without equitable slot access, meaningful government support, or regulatory advocacy, their demise was not a surprise — it was a foregone conclusion.
Break Up the Qantas Group? Yes. And More.
So what to do? Is it time for some better consumer thinking? Yup
Let’s be clear. The call to break up Qantas is not radical — it’s overdue.
Jetstar should be spun off, and slot allocation should be re-audited under public scrutiny. We need strict limits on market concentration by route. Western Sydney Airport must be a proving ground for real new entrants, not a second playground for the duopoly.
We also need the ACCC to grow a spine — or be replaced.
Final Thought
Qantas may have painted a kangaroo on its tail, but its playbook is pure corporate monopolist. It thrives on barriers, privileges, and inertia. As a consumer, you’re not flying the flag. You’re paying the price. The unions too have some responsibility, they have been enabled to get paid industry leading salaries to keep them quiet.
It’s time to stop treating Qantas like royalty and start treating it like what it is: too big to taxi, too arrogant to compete, and too protected to fail.
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