QF is no longer an Australian Icon. One flight with it will demonstrate that.
It is a public company that is unaccountable to anyone except its shareholders. Even CASA does what QF tells them because QF has more technical ability in this area.
It enjoys an effective monopoly of capacity that in my opinion deserves to be broken because its flights are choked to keep its load factors up It strangles every other state except Sydney as it is run by a Sydney-centric Board and management. It has deep and multitudinous links into both sides of Government in NSW as its current and past Board composition obviously indicates
To put it another way guys, QF should aspire to being internationally competitive, and I think your own posting demonstrate that it is not. It relies on its stranglehold on capacity to generate its profits, not its reputation for service and punctuality.
To put it another way, every other airline in the world has been struggling, and what does QF do? Makes a billion dollar profit!
Is this due to superior managment and a highly motivated staff, delivering an exquisitely crafted level of service that makes Australians salivate at the mere thought of travelling Qantas???
Nope. We will go to any lengths to AVOID QF!
To put it yet another way, Yes QF is an Australian Icon. So is Telstra and the four main banks. All of you are monopolies and deserve a bit more competition.
Furthermore, the longer you are insulated from competition, the harder and more painful the inevitcable adjustment when the Australian public works out just what a the cost of your cosy protection actually is.