Ghost flight scandal: Qantas agrees to pay USD 66.1 million fine

Australian airline main Qantas has agreed to pay AUD 100 million (USD 66.1 million) penalty to settle a authorized case the place it was accused of promoting 1000’s of tickets for flights it had cancelled.

Under the settlement agreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Qantas will start a projected USD 20 million remediation program for impacted passengers, with funds to prospects starting from USD 225 to AUD 450, and topic to the approval of the Federal Court of Australia, will pay a AUD 100 million civil penalty.

The ACCC and Qantas will shortly search approval of the proposed penalty by the Federal Court.

Qantas mentioned it intends to start the remediation program upfront of the Court approval course of.

Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson mentioned: “Today represents one other essential step ahead as we work in direction of restoring confidence within the nationwide provider.

“When flying resumed after the COVID shutdown, we recognise Qantas let down prospects and fell wanting our personal requirements. We know lots of our prospects have been affected by our failure to present cancellation notifications in a well timed method and we’re sincerely sorry. The return to travelling was already traumatic for a lot of and we didn’t ship sufficient help for purchasers and didn’t have the expertise and methods in place to help our folks,” Vanessa Hudson mentioned in an announcement.

“We have since up to date our processes and are investing in new expertise throughout the Qantas Group to guarantee this doesn’t occur once more,” the Qantas Group CEO mentioned.

“We thank the ACCC for his or her cooperation in reaching this final result, which suggests we are able to compensate affected prospects a lot ahead of if the case had continued within the Federal Court. We are centered on making the remediation course of as fast and seamless as attainable for purchasers,” Vanessa Hudson mentioned.

Those impacted prospects will obtain AUD 225 for home/trans-Tasman flights and AUD 450 for worldwide flights. This is on prime of any refund or different flight already supplied to these prospects, learn an announcement issued by Qantas.

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb mentioned: “We are happy to have secured these admissions by Qantas that it misled its prospects, and its settlement {that a} very vital penalty is required on account of this conduct. The dimension of this proposed penalty is a vital milestone in imposing the Australian Consumer Law.”

The ACCC launched Federal Court motion in opposition to Qantas in August 2023 alleging that, between 21 May 2021 and seven July 2022, Qantas marketed tickets for greater than 8,000 cancelled flights.

It was additionally alleged that, for greater than 10,000 flights scheduled to depart in May to July 2022, Qantas didn’t promptly notify present ticket holders that their flights had been cancelled.

Qantas has now admitted that its misconduct continued from 21 May 2021 till 26 August 2023, affecting tens of 1000’s of flights scheduled to depart between 1 May 2022 and 10 May 2024.

“We acknowledge Qantas’ cooperation in in the end deciding not to contest this case, admitting that the conduct occurred for an extended interval, and searching for to resolve this early and for the good thing about customers,” Cass-Gottlieb mentioned.