Editing Oneworld (section)

==== COVID-19 pandemic ====
During the COVID-19 pandemic, in what was widely seen in aviation and business circles as a long-running publicity stunt intended to garner support from the Australian public as well as appeasement from Qatar Airways towards the Australian Government, Qatar Airways continually flew near-empty aircraft to and from Australia, under the banner of "bringing Australians home." 

Due to Australia's international border restrictions, which were amongst the strictest in the world, Qantas was unable to operate international flights as it was a commercial corporation rather than a sovereign state-backed entity like Qatar Airways, who could afford to run the routes at a deep loss and counterbalance this loss by accessing subsidies from Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. 

Despite this, Qatar Airways accumulated a large degree of support from the Australian public who were not aware of all the circumstances surrounding this issue, and Qatar Airways made another application to the Australian Government to double its flights to Australia in 2022 citing this support and their services to Australia during the pandemic.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker hits back at Qantas who stands against proposal to increase Australian flights |url=https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/qatar-airways-ceo-akbar-al-baker-hits-back-at-qantas-who-stands-against-proposal-to-increase-australian-flights/news-story/788af33bfedcd53ec7dca6f477bd5148}}</ref>