Qantas decision to reduce flight capacity may have led to RBA rate hike, inquiry finds

The ACTU inquiry into price gouging chaired by Allan Fels strongly criticised the lack of competition in Australia’s domestic aviation industry

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Qantas’ decision to reduce its domestic flight capacity and increase airfares in 2022 may have contributed to inflation and led the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates, a union inquiry into price gouging has found.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Allan Fels, who led the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ commissioned inquiry, was scathing of the effects a lack of competition in aviation was having on consumers.