qantaslink approves regional licence

Qantas has just been granted a licence to fly the Moree - Sydney route daily. About 30000 pax a year.

It is likely to be extremely marginal to loss-making, but they fought for it and had a lot of local support. Be careful what you wish for? What is second prize?

It does raise questions though about the approvals process, and why they apply for marginal routes. When Brindabella collapsed and Moree was sans any service, Qantas was give approval to fly the Moree route on a temporary basis, within 24 hours. At the same time the mining town of Cobar was also left high and dry. Rex applied for that licence on a temporary basis, but conditional approval took almost two months, by which time it was too late. Why?

There are many examples of unexplained anomalies in the approvals process.

The bottom line is that Qantas appears to be hell bent on holding its 65% line in the sand, at almost any cost, even making losses to do so? Not a sustainable position.