Jayne Hrdlicka released a video to staff commentating on the Australian government's decision not to allow the Doha-based Qatar Airways to operate more flights to and from Australia to help keep pace with demand.
The video was leaked to Daily Mail Australia and shows Hrdlicka telling employees that the ban makes no sense and that restricting the number of international flights was pushing up the price of flights, which in some cases are now double.
The Australian economy was also being detrimentally affected by the decision as fewer tourists are returning to Australia due to the high fares and lack of capacity, Hrdlicka contested in the video.
Qatar's ability to easily operate extra flights would dramatically improve the situation but the request had been rejected by the federal government meaning bad news for Australia and Virgin Australia - a service partner of Qatar Airways.
Australia's transport minister Catherine Knight denied the request from Qatar Airways to operate 28 additional flights, claiming in Parliament it was 'not in the national interest'.
Yet it follows from the news that Qantas boss Alan Joyce voiced his opposition to the move to his friend the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. It was then that the cabinet blocked it according to some reports.
Relations of Anthony Albanese have recently received free hospitality from the national airline, including the PM's son Nathan and girlfriend Jodie Haydon given free membership of the Qantas Chairman's Lounge.
Qantas' Joyce defended the airline's complete opposition to Qatar's request saying 'What we said when it came to Qatar...was there shouldn’t be rights granted when there’s a huge amount of capacity being put back into the market". Qantas has just announced a multi-million dollar order for more long-haul jets from Boeing and recently reported a profit of $2.5 billion whilst a number of staff have had to take second jobs to supplement their income.
Qantas' service partner is the Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, which hasn't had any capacity requests turned down by the Australian government.