QANTAS has lost its last avenue of appeal against a ruling forcing it to repay millions of dollars to Australian travel agents for commissions it has withheld.
The High Court yesterday rejected an application by Qantas seeking to challenge a ruling in May by a full bench of the Federal Court which found that the airline should have included fuel surcharges when calculating the commissions it pays to agents on international ticket sales.
It means the case will now return to Justice Michael Moore in the Federal Court to determine the amount of money the airline will have to pay the travel agents. It is expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
The case is part of a class action by about 1800 agents against Qantas and other airlines including Air New Zealand, British Airways and Singapore Airlines which began in 2006.
Large agents such as Flight Centre opted out of the case.
Qantas introduced the surcharge in 2004 but later removed it from domestic routes.
A Qantas spokesman said it was disappointed with the latest ruling and would now consider its options.
