‘Qantas ain’t the spirit of Australia:’ Bob Katter

Queenslanders living in regional and remote parts of the state are paying sky high airfares to travel to and from Brisbane, a situation which has led to veteran MP Bob Katter lashing out.

Qantas, Virgin Australia and Rex currently service areas such as Mount Isa, Longreach and Roma, with customers being charged in excess of $1200 to fly return to Brisbane on some flights.

Mr Katter – who has been the member for outback seat of Kennedy for decades – said regional Queenslanders paid twice as much for flights than they had to and were being used to subsidise flights where the major airlines had competition.

The maverick veteran MP said Qantas used their “huge profit margin” to subsidise international flights, but there was no competition within Australia.

The MP said people in Mount Isa, Townsville and Roma were being charged double what should be being charged.

“I’ll tell you one thing about Qantas, it ain’t the spirit of Australia,” he said.

“(Former chief executive Alan) Joyce might be gone, but his spirit lives on and that spirit is not the spirit of Australia.”

Mr Katter said the “tyranny of distance” had seen his father and uncle die because there were no planes available to get them to urgent medical care, which was a huge issue for people living in regional and remote areas.

“In America, you are never any more than 150km from a city with half a million or a million people,” he said.

“Well 90 per cent of the service here in Quyeeensland is beyond 150km from a big city, so we’re fundamentally different from other countries.

“I’m going to attempt to get the three arms of government and the mining companies together and see if we can issue an ultimatum, either do it or take all their business away.”

The ABC reported Qantas had redeployed its Boeing 737 aircraft and were using smaller planes to service remote Queensland towns until April next year making it harder for passengers to find flights.

In other parts of the state, passengers travelling from Longreach to Brisbane arrived to find their luggage had been left behind because of weight restrictions.

Longreach resident Amelia Jones told the ABC she recently travelled to Queensland’s capital with her family for surgery, when they reached their destination found out their bags had been left behind.

“It was a bit of a panic. All of my hospital paperwork was in those bags, everything that we needed … plus all the baby stuff as well,” Ms Jones told the ABC.

The Western Australia government introduced a scheme in 2022 to reduce flight costs for residents in regional and remote areas across the state after residents were paying up to $1000 to fly return to Perth.

The scheme has cost taxpayers $105m and ensures airfares are capped at a maximum ticket price of $199 or $299 one-way.

It is funded until June next year.

The major airlines came under fire this week after the ACCC released a report which found domestic airfares between capital cities had increased on average 13.3 per cent after Rex pulled out of the major cities in July.

The report revealed flights between Adelaide and Melbourne almost doubled increasing by 95 per cent.

The report was released the same day the federal government announced an $80m lifeline to embattled airline Rex to continue servicing regional and remote parts of Australia extending their voluntary administration period until July 2025.

Qantas and Virgin have been contacted for comment.