Extra services for Qatar Airways would have led to “favourable effects”, Airline Intelligence and Research chief executive Tony Webber said.

“There will be a material reduction in airfares … somewhere between seven per cent and 10 per cent,” he told a Senate select committee on Tuesday.

The former Qantas chief economist said there would have been an improvement in inbound tourism, largely from Europe, that could have been worth up to $1 billion.

“There is a material amount of market dominance from Qantas,” Webber said.

He described the airline as an “exceptionally aggressive competitor”.

“If a new carrier encroaches on its routes, on its market share, then it will aggressively respond,” he said.

Webber said the only commercially viable routes for Qatar after the pandemic were larger markets, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Transport Minister Catherine King has come under fire for her decision to reject Qatar Airways’ bid to double the 28 weekly services it offers in Australia, after being lobbied by Qantas.

Critics claim the move shields the privatised, publicly-listed Qantas from competition, but King has maintained the decision was made in the national interest.

Thirteen Australian women were detained at Doha’s Hamad International Airport in October 2020, after a baby was found abandoned in a bin.

Qatari authorities were searching for the mother before they pulled women off several flights at gunpoint and forced them to undergo invasive examinations.

Marque Lawyers managing partner Michael Bradley, who is representing a group of the women, said Qatar Airways was dragging the case out and had made it a “torturous and expensive process”.

“What happened to them was extraordinary and the airline has not answered for it,” he said.

“The airline has never stepped up and clients have been forced to undertake complex and potentially very expensive litigation to try to enforce their rights and seek redress.”

Bradley said his clients want Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker to appear before the inquiry.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie has labelled the government’s move to block the extra Qatar flights a “protection racket” and said she was concerned the women were being used as a “front” for the decision.

Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert said there were “strong arguments for increasing” flights when services from the Middle East were down by a quarter, while Flight Centre boss Graham Turner said it was in the government’s interest to review the decision.

Long-time Qantas CEO Alan Joyce resigned earlier this month, two months early, after a series of PR disasters marked by the Qatar knockback as the airline announced a $2.47 billion profit during a cost-of-living crisis, and a potential $250 million fine after the consumer watchdog launched court action alleging Qantas knowingly sold thousands of tickets to cancelled flights.

A public backlash also forced Joyce to extend a deadline for passengers who had paid for flights cancelled during the pandemic to claim travel credits, after the airline planned to add the credits – estimated at around $500 million – to its bottom line if not claimed by the announced date.

The airline then lost a High Court appeal, which confirmed an earlier Federal Court judgement that Qantas illegally sacked almost 1700 workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The committee will hold three more public hearings in Perth, Brisbane and Canberra and will report back by October 9.

-with AAP