Federal court dismisses case against airline but judge says five women can refile claims for damages against subsidiary Matar

Qatar Airways has successfully dodged an Australian lawsuit over an incident at Doha airport in which women were forcibly removed from planes by armed guards and some intimately examined.

However, while the federal court dismissed the case against the airline, justice John Halley determined the five Australian women bringing the case could instead refile their claims for damages against Matar, a Qatar Airways-owned subsidiary engaged by the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) to run Doha airport.

The five women initiated legal action against the airline in 2022, later adding the QCAA and Matar to the case over the October 2020 incident, seeking damages over alleged “unlawful physical contact”, false imprisonment and mental health impacts, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. [...]

The women were taken to ambulances on the tarmac and some were forced to submit to invasive examinations for evidence they had recently given birth. The lawsuit claims one passenger was forced to undergo a strip-search holding her five-month-old son. [...]

Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Matt Raos told an Australian Senate inquiry in September that such examinations of passengers would never be repeated.

"We've had nothing like it previously in our history and we're completely committed to ensuring nothing like this ever happens again," Raos told the committee.