Qantas to pay $120m for allegedly selling tickets to flights that had already been cancelled

Airline alleged to have advertised and sold tickets for more than 8,000 flights that it had already cancelled

The revelations precipitated the early retirement of the former CEO, Dubliner Alan Joyce.

Qantas will fork out $100m (€61.5m) as a civil penalty and pay $20m (€12.31m) to customers in compensation, after striking a deal with the consumer watchdog over landmark legal action for allegedly selling tens of thousands of tickets to flights that had already been cancelled in its system.

On Monday, Qantas announced it had come to an agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to resolve the court proceedings lodged in August last year, alleging it had advertised and sold tickets for more than 8,000 flights that it had already cancelled in its internal system, revelations which precipitated the early retirement of the former CEO, Dubliner Alan Joyce.