Originally Posted by
Fliegenmong
Um, because it hasn't been a National Airline for a good many years now......... It's a Private entity, 49% foreign owned
The whole subsidised state airline argument is a smokescreen to hide Qantas' inability to innovate with the crisis. The privately owned unsubsidised Americans, British, Japanese, Hong Kongers etc etc have maintained skeleton long haul flying, Qantas' response is more or less uniquely inadequate for a first world airline.
Not that it makes much difference with the border restrictions which have turned Australia into East Germany.
I've been in the UK for 20 years, so no major odds to me. Apart from Zoom funeral in the middle of the night, having to watch the people you can't comfort was pretty grim.
But it's bad for people like one of my former UK colleagues, an Aussie from Melbourne who came here for two years, couldn't get out of his lease when it kicked off, so had to stay and now he's not a priority case to get back. He's been crashing with distant relatives, caught COVID staying with them, got sick, put into hospital, moved to Intensive Care, currently back on a general ward but not out of trouble, only in his 30s and unclear how come it hit someone young so bad.
EK is a good example of what happens with constantly changing rules. It's not solely an Australian issue. I've been personally involved in cancelling routes where the government can't manage to be clear or consistent with border rules. It reaches the point where adherence to the regulations becomes impossible.