When travel surged in 2022, Qatar Airways applied to add 21 flights to its services from Doha to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
But last month Australian Transport Minister Catherine King confirmed the additional bilateral air rights were not under consideration, without giving reasons why.
It’s well known that the application was opposed by Qantas, although it was supported by the tourism and aviation sector and the National and Liberal parties.
Qatar Airways’ application was also opposed by five Australian women, of a group of 18, who were subjected to non-consensual gynaecological examinations, reportedly at gunpoint, at Hamad International Airport in Doha by Qatari federal police ahead of their flight, QR809, on October 2, 2020, during the pandemic.
The women were subjected to this treatment after a newborn baby was found abandoned in a bin at the airport and police sought to find the mother. The women who report they have been ignored by the Qatari Government, have taken their battle to Australia’s Federal Court and are now suing for damages from Qatar Airways and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority –both of them owned by the Qatari government.
“If the event with the women is the reason the airline has been prevented from additional flights, it is totally illogical,” said Graham Turner, CEO of Flight Centre Travel Group, as he roundly criticised the Australian Government for not granting the rights for extra flights.
“Qatar as an airline has nothing to do with the behaviour of federal police. If the conduct of a country’s police force is the reason they were rejected we wouldn’t let half the world’s carriers fly to Australia.”
But the Sydney Morning Herald, in a report on October 22, 2022, claims that QR does, as an airline, have responsibility. “Qatar Airways also faces possible damages for negligence under the Montreal Convention, which states an airline is liable for death or bodily injury that occurs while embarking or disembarking.”
