There is not one CEO of a major airline today that does not devote a moment of each day wondering what to do about the LCC amoebas springing up in their midst.
By announcing Quokka Airlines, QF has publicly admitted it is rattled and willing to accept the inevitable cannibalisation of the main brand as the quickest way to cut some cost out of the business.
IMHO, going for a separate LCC model is an admission that management, instead of being full of ideas, is actually out of ideas and basically lacks the intestinal fortitude to negotiate creative solutions to stretch the brand rather than cannibalise it.
As someone suggested, sophisticated yield management has been around for yonks and taking sandwiches out of the rear cabin is hardly rocket science. So what then is really driving this?
Quite simply, this is the quickest and easiest way to drive down unit labour costs. It is not the best way but simply the easiest.
History has shown that none of the so-called majors has been successful using the strategy being proposed. The jury may still be out on Delta's attempt but I don't rate their chances any better than some of the Europeans.
As for Quokka, it is the easy way to put some air in the
PR tyres and make it look as though there is some creative thinking going on...no matter how destructive it may end up being to the brand in the longer term.
Most would accept that there will be continued downward pressure on working conditions across the industry for the foreseeable future. My question to the QF board is; why baste the whole turkey in such a distasteful sauce and make even more of the kitchen hands and patrons choose the chicken? Actually KapM's crumb analogy was pretty good.
VB must be quietly pleased with this development and will no doubt be doing some homework on what kind of business class seats to install on selected routes.
Perhaps it could be time to put my QF Frequent Flyer card next to my Ansett one....in my son's toy box.