Icarus, while I don’t agree with a number of Brett’s philosophies I believed he genuinely cared about the staff, and recognised that the staff, and more importantly their families, were the key to success. And for the most part the business made a profit.
Yes there were things that were not good, there were things that were poorly done, but at the end of the day it was a much better business and much better company to work for than now.
THAT all said, it is still one of the best jobs in aviation in Australia - and while that sounds like a contradiction, there are a heap of things this joint does well.
Finding the special sauce that puts all the good bits of then and now together into one package is the key. We aren’t there yet, and I am hopeful the new boss, whomever that may be, might go some way towards conjuring that magic.
I live in hope.