After July 1st( me thinks) AO will be known as the "Australian Airlines Wet Leasing Company" A big mouthfull for a holding company to further erode pilots wages and conditions. Consider this AAWLC will be flown by Qantas pilots,in Qantas uniforms, in Qantas aeroplanes ,painted in Qantas colours,wet leased back to Qantas. A shell of a company by anyone's standards.Another section 298K court action in the wind?
So why would Qantas do it?
Have a think ,a large number of the pilots in AO were promoted out of seniority. Now that the days are numbered for said company of course these newly promoted Captains and First Officers don't wish to come back to mainline and get dumped back in rank as per the LOA and as their relative seniority will dictate.
No conspiracy here move along now.
Don't think for one minute that this isn't a ploy to use seniority against the pilot body and to further try and destabilise Qantas' pilot's union.
As a betting man I would say the boys and girls in Cairns will have until JetSar International is up to strength before AAWLC is closed down totally and the remaining pilots from the long gone Australian Airlines are offered JetStar contracts.
Short term gain for long term pain?
Start asking questions and think long and hard before signing that dotted line.