Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Government has appointed a new whole-of-Government panel for air travel services for the next five years. The new panel consists of 18 airlines, including:

Replacing the current domestic and international air services panels, the new panel is expected to reduce travel expenditure by departments and agencies and additionally, increased baggage allowances, reduced or removed fees and more flexible fare conditions are expected to provide further savings.

Compared to the previous contracts, the new panel provides:

• competitive route deal fares and discounted point of sale, point of origin and inbound fares that provide departments and agencies with substantial savings in comparison to market fares;
• flexible fare conditions that provide a range of benefits for government travellers;
• supports compliance with the government’s best fare of the day international travel policy and lowest practical fare domestic travel policy;
• detailed reporting on government travel patterns;
• simplified contract management; and
• the ability to adapt to the government’s changing travel needs.

In 2014-15, the Government booked approximately $420 million of domestic and international air travel, across 1.4 million sectors.

The new panel begins on 1 May 2016.