hadagutful
Basically Qantas stinks because they are a lazy outfit that tries to avoid competition through the political process.
Name me one outfit that doesn’t use this tactic to protect its own turf. Why do you think that this has been the biggest stumbling block to world aviation since the end of WW11? Fifth freedom rights, and this is what we are talking about here have been political hot potatoes for decades and has never been resolved. Every country is looking after its own interest. Don’t be fooled for one moment by the smoke screen arguments about competition and benefits to the traveling public. It is all BS. All carriers have played this card at some stage. If you want to look at how one sided aviation negotiations can be, look at how the Americans play business. It makes the Australian negotiations look like they are being conducted by pre-schoolers. You have only got to go to Japan and look at the number of US aircraft there. You could swear you had just land at a major us airport. The American idea of open skies is total fifth freedom rights through your country for absolutely nothing in return. They protect their airlines to the tenth degree from foreign carriers with the use of such things as donations disguised as 911 grants and chapter 11 bankruptcy protections. People seem to have dismissed UA 25% stake across the Pacific as not relevant. Well let me tell you that only fools would think that. In their current state they are a predator after cash flow. Since their fall into Chapter 11 a couple of years ago they have been redeploying capacity onto the Pacific in order to generate cash. Australia is no exception and has seen the cost of the average airfare to the US fall substantially over the last few years. People, price competition on the Pacific is alive and well. Don’t be fooled for one minute by SQ and the Singapore government’s argument about competition. Their motives do not reflect their mouth music and I would be deeply suspicious.
Pinky the pilot
With all due respect I disagree as a reasonable precedent has already been set. Otherwise why would a genuine 'silvertail' such as Malcolm Turnbull stand for political office?
With all due respect Malcolm Turnbull still owns a very profitable legal business and still derives an income from it. I suspect Geoff Dixon would be substantially out of pocket if he went into politics unless he substantial income from other sources.