Sydney airport CEO accuses Qantas of strategically cancelling flights to block competition

Geoff Culbert tells industry conference that airlines’ behaviour ‘amazes’ him despite public awareness of ‘slot hoarding’ allegations

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Qantas has been accused of continuing to strategically cancel flights to block competition by Sydney airport’s chief executive as he warns the embattled airline is making it difficult for Australians to “fall in love with Qantas again”.

Geoff Culbert, who is finishing as CEO at the end of the year, said recent behaviour from airlines “amazes” him despite public awareness of the allegation known as “slot hoarding”. Slot hoarding is where airlines schedule more flights than they intend to run, before cancelling them in a strategic manner so as to not cancel any service more than 20% of the time so they retain the slot at the expense of a competitor (known as the 80:20 rule).

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