The federal government has appointed four domestic airlines, 13 international airlines and five travel management service providers to supply travel services for all Commonwealth public service agencies, parliamentarians and their staff.
The new agreement is expected to deliver more than $160 million in savings over the next four years, said minister for finance, Lindsay Tanner.
The newly appointed carriers are Jetstar Airways, Regional Express (REX), Qantas Airways and Virgin Blue for domestic travel; Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways, Jetstar Airways, Pacific Blue, Qantas Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, United Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Blue International (V Australia) for international travel.
Travel Management Companies include American Express International, Carlson Wagonlit Australia, Flight Centre (FcM), Hogg Robinson Australia and QBT.
As part of the agreement, all domestic and international airlines have agreed to turn off frequent flyer and equivalent loyalty reward points for business related travel.
“This has been an issue of particular importance to me as the government has previously been unable to extract full value from such programs, with loyalty reward points acting as an incentive to travel,” Tanner said.
Qantas and Virgin Blue both welcomed the new agreement, with Virgin Blue announcing today that it would reintroduce Virgin Blue services on the Sydney to Canberra route and add more services to New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands; as part of its strategy to attract a greater share of government travel business.
Qantas Group spokesperson David Epstein said that in some cases, “the arrangements will allow for greater competition, enabling all carriers to compete on merit with no preferential treatment”.
The new contractual arrangements will begin on July 1.