The Australian Coalition government’s bid to dump foreign ownership restrictions on the domestic arm of Qantas has passed the House of Representatives after heated debate, but the move will be blocked in the Senate by opposition parties.
The bill was brought before the lower house today, saying that scrapping parts of the Qantas Sale Act would remove a ”range of outdated restrictions”.
The Act forces Qantas to remain at least 51% Australian owned, with no individual ”foreign person” allowed to own more than 25% of the airline, and foreign airlines allowed to own no more than 35%.
The legislation now heads to the upper house where it is expected to fail in both the current Senate, and the new Senate, which forms on July 1
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has supported the Coalition government’s move, saying the legislation would put Qantas on an even footing with its main competitor Virgin Australia, which has the advantage of being able to attract larger amounts of foreign investment.
In other moves, Qantas has begun a management reshuffle that will see a former Tigerair boss Andrew David taking a key role running the day-to-day operations of its domestic and international businesses.
David stepped down as Tigerair chief executive in 2013 to become the boss of Jetstar’s long-haul operations.
Before Tigerair, he was a key executive at Virgin Blue in Australia.
