CATHAY Pacific Airways has taken its Australia traffic rights dispute to a federal court, starting legal action against the country's government over a threat to ban the airline from landing there after June 30.
The suit was initiated in a Sydney court yesterday morning and was adjourned until Tuesday.
It charges that the Australian Department of Transport abused its powers by renewing Cathay's landing rights only to the end of this month instead of the routine end of October.
The court action follows weeks of failed negotiations in Hong Kong and Canberra on a potentially damaging dispute over Qantas Airways' alleged abuses of the existing air services agreement on the amount of passengers it can pick up in Hong Kong and carry to Bangkok and Singapore.
An Australian Government spokesman said it was caught off-guard by Cathay's actions.
