Qantas decision to reduce flight capacity may have led to RBA rate hike, inquiry finds

Allan Fels has said the Qantas decision to cut capacity could have led to inflation and the Reserve Bank’s decision to raise interest rates. Photograph: Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images

Qantas’ decision to reduce its domestic flight capacity and increase air fares in 2022 may have contributed to inflation and led the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates, a union inquiry into price gouging has found.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Allan Fels, who led the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ commissioned inquiry, was scathing of the effects a lack of competition in aviation was having on consumers.