Australia's competition watchdog said on Friday it had given its interim approval for Virgin Australia IPO-VIR.AX to start selling Qatar Airways-operated flights between Doha and four capital cities in Australia.

The tie-up will give Qatar Airways, which plans to buy a 25 percent stake in Virgin Australia from US private equity firm Bain Capital, a backdoor channel to increase flights into Australia after the Albanese government denied such requests last year.

The government still needs to sign off on the partnership.

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Qantas Airways, which has a 65 percent market share in Australia, has been fighting to keep Qatar away from the country. The denial last year raised questions about the government's relationship with Qantas, which has a partnership with Dubai-based Emirates, a rival of Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia can start marketing and selling 28 weekly scheduled return flights between Doha and Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in June next year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in a statement.

Flights from Perth are scheduled to start in November.

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The ACCC's interim authorization ensures that customers who have pre-booked these flights would be protected, even if the final regulatory approval is not granted.

Virgin Australia will use Qatar Airways' craft and crew to operate the service under a wet-lease arrangement.

Virgin Australia, Qantas and Qatar Airways did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.