Guppydriver - you're reading of the truth is about as fanciful as your claims that Stoddart is an astute businessman.
The facts speak for themselves. The loads have only picked up because half the seats are being given away free. The fare itself is not profitable by his own statements. So not only is he selling an unprofitable fare, he is also giving away half the load. Even so, the flights aren't full. So, he trashes the fares, gives away seats, and he still cant fill the planes. Funny interpretation of success.
He didn't make his money in Europe because he took on all the other airlines and came out trumps. He made his money on a deal with the Australian government and ended up with a shipload of spare parts that he could sell in Europe. Its worth noting that the spare parts were what made him his millions and in his original bid for the aircraft he didnt even know the spares were included (again, from his own mouth).
Further, once again check your facts. Check the other forums for god's sake. He is an extremely unpopular bloke in Europe. European has been a basket case for over 8 years and there are a lot of very burnt employees who could tell you the reality of this trumped up Arfur Steptoe.
Now he thinks he is going to make Perth work. But - he is only flying it back of the clock. I am sure that there is a few QF boys out there who could confirm that these red-eye specials are packed with cheap fares and not a lot of business people.
You're all going to look pretty damn silly when he shuts up shop, dumps his employees with nothing, and blames it on everyone but his stupid business model.
And your statement about QF is also crap. In the latest GSJBWere review on QF they show yield up 8% domestically and are expecting at least a marketperform on the stock.
You know you bitch like hell when QF lays off an employee but you support a guy like this who is using the staff for his own ego thumping and will dump them in a heartbeat. Like I said - check your history on Stoddart and European.
The guy's a clown and he's gonna hurt a lot of people when it all ends in tears.