HGW , the fact was that neither the regulator, government, ACCC nor public would accept a 2 tier system whereby one had 90 odd percent and the other less than 10.
Could you imagine Alan Fels reaction if this was to remain so???
For true competition, something along current lines is the order of the day and seems to work quite well.
Besides, if
VB wanted to expand and were not given those all too precious slots into Sydney airport then it would have been Godfrey's flapping gums at twenty paces all over the screen on the 6 o'clock news.
It was bad enough when they wanted the old Ansett terminal at Sydney airport and whined incessantly every day about their "shed".
The fact was that they didnt want to pay the going rate for it!!
When they realised QF was after part of the terminal also they came to their senses and decided to stop their whinging game and actually cough up some money to secure the terminal while there was still time.
Besides, there was an article in yesterdays Sydney Daily Telegraph talking about the successes of Geoff Dixon and spoke extremely well of his ability to manage under pressure and in periods of crisis.
As I said, that is the mark of a true manager and in my opinion the jury is still out on Godfrey.
So far all I have seen in terms of crisis (?) was
VB have a delayed start due to their inability to provide the correct paperwork for the granting of an AOC (Godfrey oversaw this and it cost them alot of money), watched him ride the
VB gravy train as they expanded with approval of both the government and regulator after the demise of Ansett(how could you go wrong there guys), and finally saw him go into auto-gibber and start getting flustered when Jetstar launched its low cost intro fares.
Finally I've heard little from Godfrey about the farce that their engineering system has become under the watchful eye of both himself and what is laughingly termed an engineering manager.
I especially liked the way they commented on reporting themselves to CASA when it was plainly obvious CASA was well aware and would have quashed their application to seek ETOPS approval and refused to allow further aircraft onto the register until they sought out their maintenance.
Crises they're not but the result of poor management (especially engineering).
Time will tell.