A top EU transport official accepted free flights with Qatar Airways courtesy of the Qatari government as his team negotiated a major aviation deal vital to the airline, Politico has revealed. Henrik Hololei, director general of the EC’s department for mobility and transport, flew business class free-of-charge nine times between 2015 and 2021, the newspaper found through freedom of information requests. Six of these occurred while negotiations were taking place for the European Union-Qatar aviation agreement, which was signed in October 2021 after more than five years of work but later thrown into doubt as an investigation began into how the talks were conducted amid a snowballing cash-for-favours scandal at the European Parliament. All EU countries must formally ratify the accord before it comes into force, a process that could take years. While Hololei has declined to comment on Politico’s findings, an EC spokesperson defended the decision to accept free flights. “All the missions detailed [...] were authorised and conducted in accordance with the applicable rules,” the representative said, adding that potential conflicts of interest had been “carefully considered and excluded.” In January 2017, seven months after work began on the open skies deal, Hololei took free Qatar Airways flights from Brussels National to Doha and back, paid for by the government of Qatar, the documents showed. The EC spokesperson said this visit was not part of the negotiations, adding that normally the institution covers such expenses but “in certain cases, third parties may offer to cover the entirety or part of the respective mission expenses” - in which case “all forms of potential conflict of interests have to be excluded as a condition for the mission to be authorised.”<br/>
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Qantas is facing another threat of strike action on Wednesday after refuellers based at Melbourne Airport signalled their intention to stop working for 24 hours. The airline, however, said it was putting in place “contingencies” to minimise the disruption to passengers, while the airport added it remained in talks with workers from third-party supplier Rivet. It follows Qantas cabin crew voting almost unanimously in favour of strike action after claiming they were being asked to work longer shifts and have shorter rest times. The new strike this week by Rivet, which begins at 4 am, will predominately affect Qantas, which accounts for 60% of its work. The TWU, which is representing the workers, said it had been locked in negotiations for 12 months and argued staff were facing increased workloads and responsibilities but without better pay and conditions to match. The union’s local assistant branch secretary, Mem Suleyman, said, “For a year, Rivet refuellers have tried to reach a fair agreement but have instead been faced with base wage freezes which impact their pay now and long into the future. In the current cost-of-living crisis, it is unacceptable to expect workers to pick up extra responsibilities and work harder, faster and longer to make ends meet."<br/>