The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has tentatively approved an integrated alliance between Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) and Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International). The draft determination, released on February 17, 2025, finds the alliance poses little threat to competition and is likely to increase choices for travellers.
"The ACCC considers that the proposed conduct is likely to result in minimal if any public detriment," the competition agency's statement reads.
Qatar Airways will become Virgin Australia’s exclusive interline, codeshare, and loyalty partner based in the Middle East or Türkiye, while Virgin Australia will reciprocate for Qatar Airways in Australia, notwithstanding that Qatar Airways and Qantas are both members of the Oneworld alliance.
"This announcement, recommending authorisation of a five-year alliance with no conditions, will deliver significant benefits to Australian travellers in the form of greater competition, value and choice when travelling to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as significant benefits to the Australian economy more broadly, including tourism, job creation and better freight export options," said a Virgin Australia spokesperson.
In October, the two airlines applied for a five-year authorisation to cooperate commercially. Specifically, the arrangement would see Virgin Australia wet leasing Qatar Airways B777-300ERs and operating daily flights to Doha from Sydney Kingsford Smith, Melbourne Airport, Brisbane International, and Perth International.
The current air services agreement between the two countries restricts Qatar Airways to 28 weekly flights from the combined four cities. The airline is currently operating the maximum number of allowable flights and previous efforts to increase the cap have failed.
The two carriers had argued that there was a gap in long-haul international capacity to and from Australia compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, demand for flights was high, resulting in increased airfares.
Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia have existing codeshare arrangements. Last year, in tandem with this integrated alliance proposal, Qatar Airways announced it would buy 25% of Virgin Australia. The investment and the integrated alliance are contingent on final approval from the ACCC and the Foreign Investment Review Board.
The ACCC is now calling for submissions in response to its draft determination. It will make the final decision by the end of April.
As part of changes to Qatar Airways' Australia flights, the airline will permanently discontinue its daily A380-800 flights to Perth in late June, swapping the aircraft type to the B777-300ER. In December 2025, Qatar Airways will also discontinue its daily Doha-Melbourne-Adelaide International service, changing it to Doha-Melbourne-Canberra. Doha-Adelaide daily flights will continue.
