CANBERRA – Australia’s major airlines welcomed the federal government’s aviation white paper yesterday – and well they might.
The policy-setting document kept most of the fifth freedom restrictions on foreign airlines operating from Australia while encouraging overseas carriers to operate through secondary airports such as Broome, Darwin and Cairns.
The white paper gave little encouragement to Singapore Airlines and its desire to fly from Australia to the United States.
It said access to the trans-Pacific route was one of the ”few valuable rights we have available to trade” because the country was at the end of the world.
”We need to maximise what negotiating leverage we do have,” it said.
The government will not remove the overall 49 percent cap on foreign ownership of Qantas – although it may allow greater foreign ownership of “other” Australian international airlines.
Business Spectator’s Stephen Bartholomeusz wrote, “A more prosaic reason for maintaining the cap is to protect Qantas’ international routes.
“One of the many peculiarities of the international aviation industry, and a major obstacle to sensible rationalisation, is that bi-lateral access to routes is negotiated by governments.
“The overall cap protects Qantas’ national carrier status and therefore its role in those bi-lateral agreements.â€
