soyagi

Starting today, the OSMF will be conducting an online fundraising campaign to support the future of OSM.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/gaming/t/320300

Former Bethesda character artist Jonah Lobe helped create the Deathclaw seen in Fallout 3 and later games

Archived version: https://archive.ph/E4CXM

Full text:

The Deathclaw is one of the most feared monsters in the Fallout video games. They are able to rip apart low-level or unprepared players in seconds with their long claws and powerful limbs. But did you know that a subset of Fallout players finds the Deathclaws hot? Sexy, even? It’s true—and one of the creators behind the creatures shared their thoughts on all the Deathclaw porn floating around the seedier corners of the web.

Released in 2008, Fallout 3 is not the first game in the franchise but it reintroduced the post-apocalyptic RPG series to modern gamers. And many players coming into Fallout 3 didn’t know that lurking in its wasteland were giant, lizard-like monsters that were extremely deadly and scary. These mutated creatures appeared in past Fallout titles but were redesigned to be more menacing and powerful for Fallout 3. Bethesda artists Jonah Lobe and the late Adam Adamowicz worked together to create the new Deathclaws that would go on to scare players in Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. Well, they scared most players. Some had a very different reaction to the monsters.

On August 6, an Instagram account dedicated to Fallout memes and jokes shared an image that made fun of all the Deathclaw porn that exists. The image was a screenshot of Bethesda asking for Deathclaw fan art and then comically reacting to the nasty images it received. And in the comments of this post, Lobe shared his thoughts on all the Deathclaw porn that is out there. (And yes, there’s a lot. Just know if you go looking for it, all of it is NSFW.)

“As the creator of the Deathclaw, I’ve been silently impressed/horrified at the sheer tonnage of Deathclaw porn out there…” commented Lobe.

He later retweeted a response from a cursed Fallout image account that the artist follows. The account, Draco Deathclaw, is a big fan of the creatures and shared the initial image, so they felt responsible for getting Lobe involved. The former Bethesda artist confirmed that this account had “absolutely” something to do with the response.

The Deathclaw’s creator explains why people find it sexy In an Instagram message to Kotaku, Lobe explained that he designed the Deathclaw to be “beautiful and terrifying” in a “National Geographic sort of way.”

“I gave it a hulking, long-armed physique, a toothy scowl, and lion-like eyes that regarded the player—not with hate— but as if they were food,” said Lobe.

“But some people enjoy being looked at that way—it can be, dare I say it, titillating? And if you pair that gaze with lion-like eyes and a hulking (although fit) body, well then I can see how that might, er, arouse your interest.”

Lobe also explained that Deathclaws—which he told Kotaku were his favorite monsters he’s ever created—have “soft skin” on their underbelly and a “hint of tender pink” around their noses and nostrils. He added these elements to make them seem more “realistic” but he suspects it might have also added a sense of “touchability” to monsters. And while the monster has always been a fan favorite and has even appeared in a recent Tenacious D video, he never expected people would love Deathclaws this much.

“I mean, I’m just scrolling through Google images and I’m… yeah, I guess ‘impressed’ is probably the right word,” said Lobe. “Unsettled, definitely, but I’m not going to yuck anyone’s yum.

Lobe hasn’t posted any specific pieces of Deathclaw porn on social media or YouTube, yet. But he isn’t lying. There is a “tonnage” of the stuff out on the web, along with people commenting on Reddit and elsewhere about how hot they find the large, radioactive lizards.

I don’t want to kink shame, but I’ll offer a warning: If you meet a real Deathclaw and want to fuck it, be prepared for some rough stuff. You are going to need to have an open mind and a lot of stimpacks.

“I suppose I’m grateful that at least some people out there are giving my baby some love! Still, what has been seen cannot be unseen,” admitted Lobe.

On the flip side, this also means users have the option to have a cleaner, less cluttered interface.

Full text:

[AUGUST 8, 2023] A new viewer experience that better corresponds to your YouTube watch history preferences

One of the benefits of having YouTube watch history on is that it enables YouTube to provide video recommendations you may be interested in; however, we know some prefer to clear and turn off your YouTube watch history. Starting today, we’re changing how you see recommendations on YouTube, based on your Watch History settings:

Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed. This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.

We’re rolling these changes out slowly, over the next few months. We are launching this new experience to make it more clear which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. You can change your YouTube watch history settings at any time based on whether you prefer us to provide video recommendations or not.

On the flip side, this also means users have the option to have a cleaner, less cluttered interface.

Full text:

[AUGUST 8, 2023] A new viewer experience that better corresponds to your YouTube watch history preferences

One of the benefits of having YouTube watch history on is that it enables YouTube to provide video recommendations you may be interested in; however, we know some prefer to clear and turn off your YouTube watch history. Starting today, we’re changing how you see recommendations on YouTube, based on your Watch History settings:

Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed. This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.

We’re rolling these changes out slowly, over the next few months. We are launching this new experience to make it more clear which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. You can change your YouTube watch history settings at any time based on whether you prefer us to provide video recommendations or not.

On the flip side, this also means users have the option to have a cleaner, less cluttered interface.

Full text:

[AUGUST 8, 2023] A new viewer experience that better corresponds to your YouTube watch history preferences

One of the benefits of having YouTube watch history on is that it enables YouTube to provide video recommendations you may be interested in; however, we know some prefer to clear and turn off your YouTube watch history. Starting today, we’re changing how you see recommendations on YouTube, based on your Watch History settings:

Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed. This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead.

We’re rolling these changes out slowly, over the next few months. We are launching this new experience to make it more clear which YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of you who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. You can change your YouTube watch history settings at any time based on whether you prefer us to provide video recommendations or not.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Two weeks after workers at the company announced a union drive, Grindr management has issued a return-to-office policy that workers say is retaliatory.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/4K1Ob

Earlier in the year they removed the trial offer. Now it's returned, but worse than before.