Originally Posted by
1A_Please
Here is the real scandal. How can a business that turns overs $19Bn a year and has spent over a billion dollars buying back its own shares only have shareholder equity of $10M? Robert Gottliebsen has a great article today on The Australian's website on this topic. Qantas relies on the cashflow it generates from customer prepayments for both flights and FF points to finance its business but its gearing is incredibly high.
Oh Boy 1A! What a fascinating take on the situation! Quite possibly pointing out exactly why the 'ghost flights' were sold. As has been written previously - Qantas is a finance company that operates a few aircraft. If you're a bean counter by trade - you're pre disposed to count beans. And look what happens - you lose the reason you are in business in the first place.... Why fly aeroplanes when you can count beans? Stands to reason!
As an aside - I'd love to know what the stats are on redeemed vs outstanding (and always devaluing) FF points are. How many are actually redeemed? Personally I've 'earned' tens of thousands and never bothered to redeem them because basically - they've won, it's both too hard to actually use them way I want to and by the time I do need to travel they've been handsomely devalued in real terms by the FF printing presses located deep in the bowels of QCA! FF points are a very deep cess pit that needs both governance and exploring. Frankly Qantas takes the piss wherever it's possible to do so. FF Points is a vast Wild West frontier that has no doubt been plundered for everything that it can give (and more) since at least Vanessa's tenure in the 'Executive team'.
GREAT post. Thank you!