In response to the Commission inviting other applications for capacity, the Commission has received an application from Virgin Australia for an allocation of 300 seats per week on the Italy route. The Virgin Australia application may be found here. [PDF: 29 KB]

The Next Steps

As this creates a contested situation, the Commission will write to both airlines requesting that they both address the relevant criteria in support of their applications.

Qantas has requested an extension to address the criteria in Paragraph 8 of the Ministers Policy Statement in support of its application to renew Determination [2007] IASC113 which allocates 600 third country seats on the Italy route. Qantas recently announced a proposed global aviation partnership with Emirates and said that this will be relevant to its application for renewal as it is proposed that the partnership include destinations in Italy. Given the complexity of this matter, Qantas requested an extension to Friday 5 October 2012 to provide its submission.

The Commission has considered Qantas' request and has agreed to the extension for the reasons given until COB 5 October 2012.

Submissions received:

Virgin Australia - [PDF: 4311 KB]
Qantas - [PDF: 4242 KB]

The Commission now invites submissions from interested parties about the airlines’ applications and their related submissions addressing the relevant criteria. Interested parties have until COB 16 October 2012 to notify an intention to make a submission and until COB 23 October 2012 to lodge the submission, unless additional time is sought and agreed to by the Commission.

Submissions received:

Qantas - [PDF: 1990 KB]

On 24 October 2012, the Commission agreed to a request from Virgin Australia to respond to Qantas' submission of 23 October 2012. The Virgin Australia response may be found here [PDF: 901 KB] .

On 25 October 2012, the Commission agreed to a request from Qantas to be able to respond to the Virgin Australia letter of 24 October 2012. The Qantas letter may be found here [PDF: 436 KB] .

The Commission has received an amendment [PDF: 264 KB] to Qantas' application for renewal of capacity on the Thailand route. The amendment requests the addition of conditions enabling the capacity allocated to be utilised to provide joint services with Emirates. Submissions about the application are invited.

The closing date for notice of intention to make a submission is COB (i.e. 5pm) on 31 January 2013, with the submission due by COB 7 February 2013. If no notice of intention is received by COB 31 January 2013, the Commission may proceed to make a decision.

The Commission has now issued all of the renewals requested by both Virgin Australia and Qantas. The Renewal Determinations may be found on the Determinations and Decisions page of this website under the corresponding countries.