● THE INFLATION RORT: Four rises in 2026   ♦ GAS REVENUE FOREGONE: A$537 A SECOND SINCE 1 JULY 2022   ♦ THE INFLATION RORT: Above the 0.25   ♦ THE REPORTING RORT: The fifth system   ♦ THE AIRLINE RORT: ONGOING · UNRESOLVED · 8 INVESTIGATIONS   ♦ THE CARTEL SWITCH: ONGOING · UNRESOLVED · 1 INVESTIGATIONS   ♦ THE COMPLIANCE MACHINE: ONGOING · UNRESOLVED · 1 INVESTIGATIONS   ♦ 105 ENTITIES TRACKED · 101 INVESTIGATIONS · 0 STRUCTURAL BREAK-UPS   ♦ THE SURCHARGE RORT: The cost the Tax Office won’t wear   ♦ THE SURCHARGE RORT: A line off the receipt

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THE RORT · THE DRAIN

The Airline Rort

The 2 conduits The Airline Rort runs through, and what comes back as tax.

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THE RORT · CASE FILE · THE AIRLINE RORTCASE OPEN · TRACKING
CASE FILE · CORPORATEARTICLES · 8
STATUS · Ongoing · unresolvedCost of the Qatar block to travellersA$2,153,955,456Source: The Airline Rort: The Qatar block (up to A$788m/yr)

A duopoly for most of 35 years. Eight challengers tried to break it; every one failed or was absorbed. Fares stay above pre-COVID levels while the regulator names fixes no one implements.

Fig. 01 / The chain, in order

01The fare02The duopoly03The Qatar block04Alan Joyce and the politicians05The frequent flyer financial machine06Who owns the airports07What the media covered08What would fix it
Fig. 01Source: case chain · every investigation in this case, in sequenceAs of 2026‑04‑03Auto-assembled

Fig. 02 / Who's named in this case

The ACCCFEDERAL REGULATOR · 8QantasCOMPANY · AVIATION · 8Barnaby JoycePERSON · ONE NATION MP FOR NEW ENGLAND · 4Duopoly & ConcentrationMECHANISM · 4Alan JoycePERSON · EXECUTIVE · 3Anthony AlbanesePERSON · POLITICIAN · 3The Chairman's LoungeMECHANISM · LOBBYING · 3Virgin AustraliaCOMPANY · AVIATION · 3Sydney AirportCOMPANY · INFRASTRUCTURE · 3WoolworthsCOMPANY · SUPERMARKETS · 1
Fig. 02Source: entity scan · names appearing across this caseAs of 2026‑04‑03Auto-assembled

Fig. 03 / The record, with sources

~5,000 membersThe Qantas Chairman's Lounge includes approximately 90 per cent of federal parliamentarians. Membership is free, by personal invitation of the CEO, and includes consistent access to upgrades on Qantas flights.SOURCE · Joe Aston, The Chairman's Lounge (2024); WSWS [8]Alan Joyce and the politiciansThe sequenceA$2.7 billion in COVID taxpayer support; illegal sacking of 1,700 workers; record profits restored; Qatar's flights blocked on Qantas's lobbying; upgrade scandal revealed. Each element legal, declared, or unprovable. The system doesn't need to be corrupt to produce corrupt outcomes.SOURCE · [12][13][14][10][1]Alan Joyce and the politiciansSole LCCJetstar is now, two decades later, the sole low-cost carrier in the Australian domestic market, following the exit of Tiger in 2020 and Bonza in 2024. Its profit has grown accordingly: EBIT up 53.7 per cent after Bonza's collapse. [10,12]SOURCE · ACCC, May 2025The duopoly94.4%Qantas Group and Virgin Australia together held 94.4 per cent of all domestic passenger carriage as of March 2025. Bonza's collapse in April 2024 marked the second failed attempt at a third domestic player in a decade. [11]SOURCE · Switzer Daily / ACCC, March 2025The duopoly62%Morning peak take-off slots at Sydney Airport (6am–11am weekdays, mid-2024): Qantas held 103 slots (62 per cent); Virgin held 57 (34 per cent); Rex held just 7 (4 per cent). [6]SOURCE · Australian Financial Review / Senate inquiry, 2024The duopoly5 barriersThe duopoly is protected by at least five structural barriers: peak slot control at Sydney Airport, network depth across connecting routes, loyalty program lock-in across 15 million Australians, dominance of the high-margin corporate travel segment, and capital requirements that demand sustained loss-making periods to overcome. Any new entrant must navigate all five simultaneously against incumbents who have advantages in all five.SOURCE · ACCC / Senate inquiry analysisThe duopoly+9.6%Airfares rose 9.6 per cent in March 2025, described as 'a pattern that may become familiar in a low-competition environment.' [11]SOURCE · Switzer Daily / ACCC, March 2025The duopoly39.6c vs 19.2cPrice per kilometre with one carrier versus three carriers on Australian domestic routes. The fare is almost halved by adding competition, not by improving operations.SOURCE · Federal competition taskforce data, January 2024 [4]The fare
Fig. 03Source: case record · each fact carries the article that documented itAs of 2026‑04‑03Auto-assembled

From the desk

  • 15 October 2026Review
    Review: The fare — ACCC Q3 domestic-aviation report
    The fare · The Airline Rort
    ACCC quarterly monitoring report due; check whether anything structurally changed on fares.
    Read the desk note

    REVIEW DUE: the ACCC's next quarterly domestic-aviation monitoring report.

    WHAT THE ARTICLE CLAIMS, to re-check against the new report:
    - Two airline groups control 94-99 per cent of all domestic flights.
    - Load factors are at near-record highs.
    - Profit margins on domestic routes are more than double those on competitive international routes.
    - Fares remain well above pre-COVID levels.

    WHAT TO DO:
    1. Read the new quarterly report the day it lands.
    2. Confirm each of the four figures above still holds, or update the article with the new numbers and a dated correction line.
    3. If anything structurally changed (a new entrant, a margin fall, a load-factor drop), that is a follow-up article, not just an edit — log it as its own case.

    SOURCE: this article, /article/airline-rort/the-fare.

The desk record →

Nobody wrote this page. It assembled itself from the 8 investigations that make up The Airline Rort, and it deepens automatically each time The Rort publishes another in the series. The named actors, the sourced figures and the evidence chain stay in lockstep with the archive.

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