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CBASA Senate Inquiry: 19/09/23 Sydney public hearing Hansard etc. - Don't mention the UAE??

Via the APH website:
  Hansard - 19/09/2023 Commonwealth Bilateral Air Service Agreements + Submissions + Additional Documents

Join the dots? From the Sydney airport submission
 

..Sydney Airport believes that Australia stands to benefit from further liberalisation of Bilateral ASAs and would go so far as to advocate for facilitating additional open skies agreements. Increased unrestricted air rights capacity agreements whereby market dynamics determine potential routes for foreign carriers with no restrictions on services to and from Australian capital cities would deliver considerable improvements and efficiencies in international aviation. For context, the United States has open skies agreements with 130 nations and Singapore has more than 60. Australia has only seven.

A contemporary example of inefficiencies in the Bilateral process is currently playing out in relation to the Middle East market. The Bilateral to the United Arab Emirates permits 168 flights per week, in comparison to Qatar's 28. At present, airlines flying to and from the UAE are only operating 84 of the 168 flights they are permitted, while Qatar is utilising all of their permitted 28 flights and is operating at capacity (plus an extra 7 flying to Adelaide via Melbourne, which is permitted under the ASA).

At Sydney Airport, we are currently seeing a 25% shortfall in recovery on the Middle East market when compared to pre-COVID. With 50% of weekly permitted flights from the UAE not being utilised, while Qatar is prevented from increasing their capacity, consumers are paying the price with less choice and ultimately higher airfares.

   And repeated here by the Sydney Airport CEO: 

We're seeing all of this play out in relation to the Middle East. The bilateral to the UAE permits 168 flights a week. The bilateral to Qatar permits 28 flights a week. That's 168 versus 28. When you go a layer deeper, you see that airlines flying to and from the UAE are only using 84 of the 168 flights they're allowed, while Qatar are using all of their 28 flights and want to do more.

Plus via Oz Aviation:

UAE CARRIERS ONLY USE HALF THEIR FLIGHTS, SAYS SYDNEY AIRPORT CEO



“We have an airline that wants to add new services immediately, but they can’t because their bilateral is full. At the same time we have 84 flights a week from the UAE that aren’t being used at all. That’s just inefficient,” he said.

“It leaves a gap of 25 per cent in the Middle East market, less choice for consumers, and ultimately higher prices.”

Now consider this article from Travel Daily last week:

Emirates Announces Capacity Boost To Australia

By Joe Cusmano On Sep 14, 2023



Emirates has announced that, beginning 4 November, all Sydney flights will be operated by A380 aircraft.

The move is part of the airline’s efforts to enhance customer connectivity and capacity and to provide passengers with even more travel options.

With all three of Emirates’ slots already in use at Sydney airport, the airline is able to commit nearly 2,000 extra weekly seats with the upgrade to its double-decker aircraft on its third daily flight, starting 4 November 2023.

This service will replace the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft presently utilised for EK 416 and 417.

The upgraded Emirates A380 service will feature a three-class configuration with 489 seats, increasing the daily passenger capacity by more than 260 seats.

This upgrade will improve connections to and from Dubai and access to many global destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

It enhances the two existing Sydney A380 four-class services, which feature the newest Premium Economy cabin from Emirates.

Emirates is already a significant player in the Australian aviation market, with 63 weekly services and nearly 56,000 seats connecting its four primary gateways.

These include three daily flights to Melbourne and Sydney, double daily flights to Brisbane, and a daily A380 service to Perth, the airline’s flagship service.

In addition, the airline has reinstated services between Melbourne and Singapore and created a unique A380 experience between Sydney and Christchurch.

Return to Adelaide

The introduction of the Emirates Airbus A350 in the summer of 2024 will facilitate further expansion of the airline’s global network by allowing its fleet to grow and freeing up more of Emirates’ long-range aircraft to serve points like Adelaide. The airline is in close discussions with Adelaide Airport to recommence nonstop services as part of its commitment to reconnect travellers from every corner of Australia to its network.

The third Sydney A380 flight will depart from Dubai at 2130hrs, arriving in Sydney at 1820hrs local time. The returning flight departs Sydney at 2110hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0430hrs local time.

Emirates continues to expand the deployment of its flagship A380 to meet ever-increasing travel demand globally. Today, the airline flies its flagship A380 to over 50 destinations, with more cities set to welcome the aircraft in the coming months.

Hmmm...and who is Emirates partnered with? 

MTF...P2