Qatar Airways flies almost empty planes between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit loopholes in the number of flights it can make to Australia

A major international airline has been accused of ‘taking the p***’ for allegedly using a loophole to get more flights to Australia.

Since last November, Qatar Airways has been flying empty or nearly empty 354-seat ‘ghost flights’ – journeys that cost money – between Melbourne and Adelaide.

The reason for the daily flights is that Qatar is only allowed to operate 28 flights a week to Australia’s main airports – one a day to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

But Adelaide is not considered a major airport, so Qatar gets an extra flight to Melbourne each day by calling Adelaide from the Qatari capital of Doha, after a stopover in Melbourne.

Aviation expert and Monash University professor Greg Bamber said Qatar is likely responding only to the refusal to operate more flights to Australia.

Qatar applied last year to add 21 flights to its services from Doha to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but Transport Minister Catherine King confirmed last month that it would not be allowed.

“I think it’s outrageous that the government has prevented them from doing this, given that we have astronomically high, inflated airfares from Qantas internationally,” said Mr. Bamber, the co-author of the book Up in the Air about the aviation industry, to Daily Mail. Australia.

‘Qantas’ argument is that there is a shortage of supply and that they therefore have to charge high prices and that suits them well.

It is in the national airline’s interest to keep the number of international flights to Australia at the current number, he said.

“It means they were able to raise their prices and maintain the shortfall in supply.

“They haven’t brought back all the supplies that were in the air before Covid,” Mr Bamber said.

But Qatar’s exploitation of a loophole has angered some in the industry.

“The whole goal is to get to Melbourne… I mean, they didn’t even sell tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks,” an insider told me. Guardian Australiawho first reported on the ghost flights.

“They took the p*** out of the industry and the laws.”

By flying Boeing 777-300s from Doha to Adelaide via Melbourne, Qatar can circumvent the ban on more than 28 flights a week to Australia’s major airports.

But it cannot sell tickets for only the Melbourne to Adelaide or Adelaide to Melbourne routes to domestic passengers.

It can only carry the booked passengers to or from Doha to Adelaide instead of the separate daily direct flight from Adelaide and Doha that Qatar also operates.

When the Qatar flight arrives in Melbourne from Doha at 11:30pm each evening, almost all passengers disembark.

Anyone wishing to continue to South Australia’s capital will have to wait six hours at Melbourne Airport, as the second leg does not depart until 5:35 am due to Adelaide’s nightly curfew.

There are very few customers for the six-hour layover and the extra journey, usually in single digits and often not at all.

Qatar Airways has been flying empty or nearly empty 354-seat ‘ghost flights’ – journeys that cost money – between Melbourne and Adelaide since last November

In the other direction, from Adelaide to Doha via Melbourne, the numbers are higher, but still only average about 20 to 25 passengers per flight.

The QR989 departs Adelaide at 11:40am each day, landing in Melbourne 90 minutes later and flying on to Doha after a 1 hour 45 minute layover.

Qatar previously used the same loophole to run a second daily service from Doha to Sydney by continuing to Canberra.

In October 2020, hundreds of women, including five Australians, were forcibly removed from a Qatar plane in Doha as officials searched for the mother of a newborn in a terminal bathroom.

The women were removed by armed guards and many say they were forced to undergo non-consensual gynecological or intimate physical examinations.

But Mrs. King said that incident did not support the decision to reject Qatar Airways’ request to double its flights to major Australian airports.

Qatar Airlines’ exploitation of a loophole has angered some in the industry

Mr Bamber said the Gulf airline should have operated more flights to Australia.

“Qatar wants to increase their capacity and as far as I can understand without any justification or reason, the government has said no.

“The only venture that could be challenged by Qatar introducing more flights to Australia is Qantas, because there would be more competition and Qantas might have to cut some of these skyrocketing prices,” he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Qatar Airways for comment.