Qantas welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to sign the Cape Town Convention, which is expected to reduce the cost of aircraft financing for all Australian airlines.

The convention provides finance companies with an internationally recognised set of rights in relation to the aircraft they finance. This provides more certainty for lenders, who in turn offer lower finance rates to airlines – particularly when financing between different countries and jurisdictions.

Qantas Group Executive of Government and Corporate Affairs, Olivia Wirth, said the Federal Government’s decision to sign the convention was a positive for fleet renewal across the Australian aviation industry.

“Aviation is an industry with very high fixed costs, particularly in terms of aircraft. Anything that can help ease those costs, which signing the convention is expected to do, is very welcome,” said Ms Wirth.

The Qantas Group currently has more than 300 aircraft with an average age of around eight years, which is the youngest fleet the airline has had since it was privatised in 1995.