Qantas ‘ghost flights’: Airline agrees to payments to settle lawsuit

Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, has agreed to pay a fine of A$100 million ($66.1 million, £52.7 million) to settle a legal case accusing it of selling thousands of tickets for flights it has already cancelled.

Under the agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the company will also launch a scheme worth up to A$20 million to compensate affected passengers.

Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson said the move represented an important step towards “restoring confidence in the national carrier”.

The so-called “ghost flight” case, launched by the ACCC in August, alleged that in some cases Qantas sold tickets for flights that had been canceled for weeks.

The penalty agreement between Qantas and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) must now be approved by the Federal Court of Australia.

Under the plan, customers who have purchased tickets for flights that have already been canceled for two or more days are entitled to compensation.

According to the airline, they will receive A$225 for domestic flights and A$450 for international tickets.

“When flights resumed after the Covid lockdown, we recognize that Qantas let customers down,” said Ms Hudson, who said she made restoring the airline’s reputation a priority when she was appointed to the role last year.

She also said the company revamped its operations and invested in technology to avoid a reoccurrence of the problem.

“We are pleased to have these admissions by Qantas that it misled its customers, and its agreement that a very significant penalty should be imposed,” said Gina Cass Gottlieb, Chair of the Australian Competition and Climate Commission.

Qantas was facing a series of scandals and legal issues when Ms Hudson became the first woman to lead the airline.

Her predecessor, Alan Joyce, led the company through the 2008 financial crisis, the pandemic and record fuel prices.

However, by the time Joyce stepped down in 2023, Qantas was facing growing public anger over exorbitant airfares, mass delays and cancellations, and its treatment of workers.