Originally Posted by
Lapon
Cobham was bypassed in favor of Altara for the CC *apparently*. It wasnt a case of sub-sub contracting as is some say.
My understanding is it was part of the latest contract model, where Qantas is essentially paying cost on the contract with very little profit for Cobham. Any cabin crew already employed prior remain as Cobham employees on their own agreement. Those employed by Altara are trained by Cobham crew, with their rostering and crewing/operations also being done by Cobham.
I know of a few cabin crew that moved from the Cobham-employed 146 operation to Altara-employed 717 and back again, as a group, due to overstaffing at the time. They obviously lost their seniority and continuous years of service in doing so, but otherwise it was all pretty seamless and there is clearly some sort of integration with Cobham and Altara in this regard.