Qantas

Status Exposed

Half of the domestic duopoly. Took A$2.7bn in COVID support, illegally sacked workers, and runs a loyalty scheme bigger than its airline. The Chairman's Lounge is its lobbying machine.

Last on record: 2026-09
Named in: 10 articles
Across: 3 cases

On the DrainA$1.61bn profit after tax · year to June 2025to shareholdersSee the map →

Named in 10 articles across 3 cases 29 connections: companies 16, lobbies 3, mechanisms 2, regulators and bodies 3, people 5

Sourced flow out of public hands, profit after tax · year to June 2025

A$1.61bn

Flowing to shareholders. Qantas Group reported underlying profit before tax of A$2.39 billion for the full year to June 2025, up 15 per cent on the prior year. [5] Statutory profit after tax was A$1.61 billion, up 28 per cent.

Corporate income tax paid · 2023-24

A$8m

A$8m of company income tax, its first since 2018-19 after four straight years of nil through the pandemic. ATO Corporate Tax Transparency 2023-24.

Articles naming it

Cases it recurs across

Linked in the graph

Figures on file

Fig. 01 / Where this name appears

The Airline RortAt least 90%The Qantas Chairman's Lounge includes at least 90 per cent of federal parliamentarians, who have declared membership on the parliamentary register …8 articles →The Inflation Rort11 article →The Privacy Rort11 article →

Fig. 01Source: article scan · every article naming itAs of 2026‑09Auto-assembled

Fig. 02 / On the record

At least 90%The Qantas Chairman's Lounge includes at least 90 per cent of federal parliamentarians, who have declared membership on the parliamentary register of interests. Membership is free, by personal invitation of the CEO, and includes consistent access to upgrades on Qantas flights.Source: The Guardian, 30 October 2024 [17]; Joe Aston, The Chairman's Lounge (2024); WSWS [8]Alan Joyce and the politicians →
The sequenceA$2.7 billion in COVID taxpayer support; illegal sacking of 1,700 workers; record profits restored; Qatar's flights blocked on Qantas's lobbying; upgrade scandal revealed. Each element legal, declared, or unprovable. The system doesn't need to be corrupt to produce corrupt outcomes.Source: [12][13][14][10][1]Alan Joyce and the politicians →
98.3%Qantas Group and Virgin Australia together carried 98.3 per cent of all domestic passengers in March 2025. [10] Bonza's collapse in April 2024 marked the second failed attempt at a third domestic player in a decade. [11]Source: ACCC, May 2025 report (March 2025 data); Switzer DailyThe duopoly →
62%Morning peak take-off slots at Sydney Airport (6am–11am weekdays, mid-2024): Qantas held 103 slots (62 per cent); Virgin held 57 (34 per cent); Rex held just 7 (4 per cent). [6]Source: Australian Financial Review / Senate inquiry, 2024The duopoly →
16.1% vs 7.1%Qantas Domestic operating margin versus Qantas International operating margin in H1 FY24-25. The difference is competition.Source: ACCC Domestic Airline Competition Report, May 2025 [2]The fare →
2.7% below 2019Domestic seat capacity in Q1 2025. Industry load factor: 80%+. In the first half of 2025-26 the Qantas Group reported record underlying earnings [1] and Virgin Australia underlying EBIT of A$490 million [1]; the Qantas Group's full-year 2025-26 underlying EBIT then fell 11.0 per cent [27]. The planes are full, fares are high, and neither airline is in a hurry to add more seats into a market they dominate.Source: Aviation Week / ACCC / Qantas Group [1][2][3][10][27]The fare →
A$2.6 billion revenueIn FY24, Qantas Loyalty generated revenue of approximately A$2.6 billion and underlying EBIT of A$511 million, a record. That is a margin of roughly 20 per cent. In the first half of 2024-25 its margin of 19.1 per cent exceeded the domestic flying margin of 16.1 per cent.Source: Qantas FY24 results [1,2]; ACCC August 2025 [20]; ACCC May 2025 [11,15]The frequent flyer financial machine →
17.6 million membersQantas Frequent Flyer had 17.6 million members at June 2025. This is not a niche product for frequent flyers. It is infrastructure.Source: Qantas Annual Report 2025 [17]The frequent flyer financial machine →

Fig. 02Source: figures on file for this name, each tied to the article it came fromAs of 2026‑09Auto-assembled

How we know

The sources of the 10 articles that name Qantas, by the tier the desk declared. A source supports its article, not necessarily a claim about Qantas.

Evidence strength · 174 sources across 10 articles

Primary 74
Official 11
Masthead 24
Trade 35
Aggregator 11
Unusable 3
16 not yet graded

Primary: the document itself: legislation, a court record, a filing, a regulator’s own publication
Official: the organisation’s own statement about itself
Masthead: a news organisation with a corrections policy, reporting the primary document
Trade: specialist or trade press
Aggregator: republishes others’ work
Unusable: its own sourcing cannot be established

How sources are graded

8 of 10 articles are graded on every headline finding. How findings are graded

Fig. 03 / Named together

The 12 names most often in the same articles as Qantas. A line's weight, and the number by each name, is how many articles name both. Grey chords join the neighbours most often named together themselves (two articles or more). Circles are people and organisations, squares are mechanisms. Named together is all this shows: it is not a finding about what the relationship is.

Fig. 03Source: article scan · articles naming bothAs of 2026‑09Auto-assembled