Carrier has been given extra time to make the changes because of IT issues
Australia’s Qantas is the latest airline to bow to demands from Beijing to refer to Taiwan as being part of China.
Foreign airlines in recent months have been ordered to respect China’s territorial claims and not give the impression that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are independent territories in a letter sent to 36 foreign carriers by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in April.
At the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual meeting on Monday, Qantas said it planned to comply with Beijing’s request.
“Our intention is to meet the requirements,” said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce on the sidelines of the summit in a direct response to a question by the Post .
Alison Webster, chief executive of Qantas’s international airline business, rejected any suggestion that its change in policy was influenced by the airline’s partnership with China Eastern Airlines, one of the nation’s big-three state-owned carriers.
“I don’t think the relationship makes any difference to how we review our response,” she said.
Changes would be made, Qantas said, but they were being delayed by IT issues, which was why Beijing last week granted the airline an extension to comply.
Webster said Qantas needed extra time because “we have some complexity to work through”.
