this company does employ over 36,000 Australians directly
And AN employed 16,000! Out of the ashes came Virgin, Australian, Jet*...Do the PAX figures indicate a drop in travel? How bad is the tourist industry suffering from the lower cost of travel? Apart from the 16,000, is anyone else losing sleep over AN's demise?
Now, I'm not advocating for one moment that QF go the way of AN...far from it. And I certainly don't advocate that SQ cherry pick the profitable routes from Oz, but QF shouldn't expect the government to bail them out every time things start getting hairy. And government support isn't always counted in $$$'s.