Originally Posted by
AerialPerspective
I believe you mentioned Rex. Haha, did you forget the $100-200M they were 'gifted' to save their regional routes by the previous government, which they then used to launch a 737 operation?? All this nonsense about Qantas being a Job-Keeper 'recipient'. They didn't pocket that money, it was paid on to the staff. It's not like the staff went with no pay and the JobKeeper was just put in a Swiss Bank Account........... I know of people that were terminated after JobKeeper started who the companies could have happily kept employing but they decided to downsize on the basis that there was not going to be a prospect of that work for some time.
Do you really think airlines and other companies should just keep paying people and go bankrupt?? The other 'support' was in reduced or waived fees but you had to be operating to be eligible to save by not paying them and everyone got them.
In Rex's instance they had two states with government subsidised routes which were virtually untouched by covid, so yes the company pocketed the difference in their wages. In the other states Rex worked the pilots to the sum of jobkeeper. For example a captain would work 3 shifts in a fortnight when JK was 1200, their wages were cost free to the company. Demand was outstripping supply with full flights. As JK was reduced so was the frequency of flights to ensure wages were free. Ticket prices were upwards of $500 but the flights ran near full. The company also made pilots 'request/beg' to have a second job to allow them to live above the poverty line. During this time the board gave themselves 20% payrises and the company posted a net positive cash flow for the 20/21 FY.