Passengers travelling between Australia and the Middle East may soon be given more flight options, with Virgin getting the green light to start selling seats on Qatar Airways planes.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission granted interim authorisation for a deal between the airlines on Friday, with a final decision on their proposed partnership by February.
If approved, customers would have access to an additional 28 return flights each week between Doha and Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth on top of Qatar's existing services.
The airlines say the first of the new flights will take off in June and leave from Perth by November.
Qatar has proposed buying a one-quarter stake of Virgin Australia and the deal will link it into the Gulf carrier's global network, allowing Virgin Velocity members to earn points on Singapore Airlines flights.
The consumer watchdog and other government bodies must give final approval, but Friday's interim decision means passengers who fork out for flights will be protected if it falls through in coming months.
If that happened customers would be refunded or placed on a different flight free of charge, ACCC deputy chair Keogh said.
"Having this court-enforceable undertaking that protects customers was important to our decision to allow Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways to start selling tickets now," he said.
The impact of the proposed exclusivity arrangements is being considered along with other concerns raised by interested parties.
"Broadly, the (commission) may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment," Mr Keogh said.
The two airlines welcomed the decision and said customers could book new flights with confidence.
The interim authorisation reflects the strong consumer and broader public benefits of the deal, according to Virgin Australia's chief strategy and transformation officer Alistair Hartley.
"These benefits include new Virgin Australia flights to Qatar, more capacity, better connections and downward pressure on airfares from Australia to the Middle East, Europe and Africa," he said.
Qatar Airways chief commercial officer Thierry Antinori said the airline would continue working closely with Virgin on the remaining approvals.
"We are pleased to be helping Virgin Australia launch these new services to Qatar and creating further business opportunities for our travel trade partners," he said.
Qatar's attempt to land more often in Australia was rejected in 2023 by the federal government, following lobbying from Qantas.
Virgin Australia is almost entirely foreign owned and the deal with Qatar would reduce US private investment firm Bain Capital's stake to 67.5 per cent.
Richard Branson's Virgin Group owns five per cent and the Queensland government owns 2.5 per cent, but neither party is involved in the Qatar sale.
