Public servant flight perks slashed in major travel policy shake-up
The Whole of Australian Government review of public service travel policy was flagged by the aviation white paper amid claims Qantas was getting the lion's share of flight bookings — despite existing policy requiring departments to select the cheapest and most practical fare.
The review was completed in late 2024, but kept under wraps by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher during a consultation phase.
Published without fanfare on the finance department website, the review found the current travel procurement policy had delivered $260m in savings from January 2022 to December 2023.
However, it found further savings were possible 'through a reduction of business class use on flights under 3 hours, encouraging simple international bookings to be made online, and applying changes to the air travel booking system that aim to positively increase compliance with the government travel policy. Economy class must be set as the standard class of travel for all travellers, including SES (senior executive service) officers, on flights less than 3 hours in duration on domestic and international flights.'
Business class bookings found they accounted for just 4 per cent of domestic travel, but 8 per cent of domestic travel spend.
'For international bookings, business class accounts for 25 per cent of bookings but 45 per cent of spend,' the review said.
Public servants will have to justify their choice if they choose a flight with a more expensive ticket price than that available on the day, and the travel policy will be reviewed every two years.
The condition that government travellers did not select flights on the basis of airline loyalty programs remained, with public servants allowed to collect status credits but not points.
But that privilege could be removed in future, with the review noting 'the suppression of status credits' was an issue to be canvassed with the market.
On the topic of upgrades, the review found being upgraded should not be accepted 'unless required for operational reasons'.
'For example — failure to accept the upgrade may impact on business needs — that is being bumped from a flight,' the report said. 'When accepted, upgrades should be declared (and) officials must not accept any upgrade to first class.'
Government membership of Qantas's exclusive Chairman's Lounge and Virgin Australia's Beyond Lounge will be more transparent — with the review promising to publish such details for 'key management personnel'.
'This will include information on sectors flown, split by airline, for both domestic and international travel, updated every 6 months,' the report said.
Government travellers accounted for 3.3 per cent of Qantas passengers, 1.4 per cent of Virgin Australia customers and 0.2 per cent of Jetstar's passengers.
On the high-traffic golden triangle routes between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Qantas carried the lion's share of public servants and government officials ahead of Virgin Australia.
Airlines are considering the report.
Virgin Australia's submission to the review claimed there was considerable preference for Qantas and the government was paying too much for fares. Read related topics: Qantas Robyn Ironside Aviation Writer
Robyn Ironside is The Australian's aviation writer, and has twice been recognised by the Australasian Aviation Press Club (in 2020 and 2023) as the best aviation journalist. She has been with The Australian since 2018, and covered aviation for News Corp since 2014 after previously reporting on Queensland state politics and crime with The Courier-Mail. Aviation
Robert Irwin spearheads a star-studded, five-pronged $130m campaign to lure more visitors to Australia | WATCH Aviation
Lobbying inside Qantas is trying to get the new A321XLRs assigned on Perth-Brisbane or Bali routes. Meanwhile, electric aircraft are about 20 years away from joining the Qantas fleet.
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