Dear Borglet, I respectfully suggest that if you were discussing the pecularities of GE inlet guide vane scheduling or an IFR approach to xyz using a rubber band and two paper clips, I would cheerfully leave.
However you are discussing the economics of airlines, customer service, industrial relations, CASA, politics and many other matters that are of interest to me and where I modestly believe I may have something useful to contribute occasionally.
I am occasionally wistful because some of the happiest days of my life were spent working for AN. However those days are long over and cannot be recreated.
Now for something else you didn't know.
There is a strong economic argument, pushed by a lot of economists, that says that if some other country is subsidising production of something and is selling it at or below cost, then the smart thing to do is to buy the product and stop making it yourself.
Some of you claim that Singapore, Malaysian, Emirates, etc. are government subsidised and offer us services at or below cost. The correct rationalist economic response to this is to buy their services - that way the Government of Singapore is subsidising my travel.
You may well ask, what happens to Qantas staff, employment and so on. What about the benefit to Australia? The answer to that in Economic rationalist terms is stark. Australians benefit by being subsidised by Singapore and the Arabs. We get to spend the money we save on other useful things to the benefit of the Australian economy.
What about you? Well, you get "redeployed" as do Qantas assets into more economically productive areas as the economists would say.
What about the human cost you may ask? Since when did the various sectional interests in the airlines ever care about each other? Since when did you care about the rationalisation of the car industry? Or the textile industry?
You can also ask what if Qantas cannot compete? Well you go under, or get bought and restructured so you can compete!
What if foriegn airlines then raise prices? Thats simple- we start another airline. If Branson can do it from scratch so can we.