The future of Qantas engineering
Here is my prediction of the future of QF engineering and Maintenance.
GD will announce that a new company will be formed with SASCO to carry out all QF maintenance before the arrival of the A380. They'll need to bed down an agreement prior to its arrival as they have already stated they will have joint maintenance on each others aircraft.
QF will maintain a small number of LAMES to ensure that they can ensure day to day certification but the majority will be employed by the new joint venture(just like SASCO and HAECO for Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific)
The new joint venture will have a contract for two years or thereabouts guaranteeing work by QF. They will also guarantee all workers entitlements so QF will be able to say that everyone is being looked after.
Either just before or just after the two years is up the new joint venture will go into receivership and be out of business, unable to carry out the work cheaper than MRO's in mainland China/Singapore/Malaysia.
Whilst the joint venture company guaranteed all entitlements for workers, it will be worthless as QF ensured they have no assets(Ansett here we come!!).
GD will say magnanimously step in to the breach but says"we have to compete internationally". QF will start up a new company-at arms length of course so they they are not responsible for any of the joint ventures' mistakes/obligations. However everyone will have to take a 20 % pay reduction to compete with MRO's in China/Malaysia/Singapore.
With the Howard Government in control of both houses of parliament, the unions will be powerless to stop it!!
Qantas has just appointed a new manager of Line Maintenance. He has no experience of line maint operations or the environment it operates in. He is renowned however for all but closing down the Sydney engine overhaul shop and massive redundancies. He has no colleagues in line Line Maint and should have no major problems in implementing redundancies.
Maybe I'm being overly alarmist and pessimistic?. Maybe GD really does want to look after the thousands of people who maintain QF's aircraft?
Someone please tell me it isn't possible and why it can't happen!!
What do you think Mr Qantas?