Australia watchdog chief Sims says reviewing complaint about Qantas by carrier Rex

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman (ACCC) Rod Sims said the regulator is looking into a complaint from Rex Airlines that Qantas is trying to stymie its attempts to become a third player on the country’s major inter-city routes. Regional carrier Rex plans to begin flying on Melbourne-Sydney-Canberra routes from March, directly competing with Qantas, its low-cost arm Jetstar and rival Virgin Australia. Rex last week lodged a complaint with the ACCC, alleging Qantas had started flying some regional routes, a strategy it said was aimed at flooding that market with excess capacity. "We have to see if these are loss-making flights, or not, and of course at the moment ... loss-making is tricky. If they can cover their cash costs, it's pretty hard to say you can't fly there," Sims said Monday. Sims said he was more focused on ensuring Rex continues to have access to landing slots on the major inter-city routes, a development that has been enabled by reduced flights during the coronavirus pandemic. “We’ve got to make sure those slots are available in the longer term, because having three players would provide more competition,” Sims said. Qantas carried 75% of all domestic passengers in September, compared with 60% a year ago, according to a recent ACCC report, albeit with reduced overall numbers because of the coronavirus pandemic.<br/>