Qantas flies into stormy weather
By Peter Gosnell
January 11, 2008 08:22am
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AFTER the turbulence of 2007, Australia's national airline has emerged this side of the New Year certain of little more than the precarious state of its reputation and the prodigious size of its profits.
In its wake is a vapour trail of incidents and events that has those believing in Qantas' status as an Australian corporate icon reaching for the oxygen.
To sum up, the Flying Kangaroo endured a failed takeover bid, the departure of its chairwoman in the aftermath, prolonged industrial disputation and soaring fuel costs which have been passed onto consumers through so-called fuel levies.
It has also copped a plea over a price-fixing scandal and agreed to pay $60 million in fines to the US Justice Department. Then there was an executive health scare which may yet mean boss Geoff Dixon steps down before his July 2009 departure date and most recently near disaster, when an electrical fault on a flight from London to Bangkok this week put the airline's legendary safety record to its gravest test yet.
Despite the bumpy ride, Qantas has maintained its grip on 65per cent of the domestic market thanks to the success of its budget carrier Jetstar.
It has plans to spend $35billion over the next decade replacing its ageing fleet, with orders in place for the giant A380 airbus and the Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Big plans, and with a forecast full-year profit of $1.44 billion certain to send the bonuses of the airline's senior executives into the stratosphere, the firm will have all the borrowing capacity it needs to put its plans into action.
And while Qantas engineers might rightly believe they're entitled to a portion of this burgeoning financial growth, Qantas management has so far given barely an inch in its recent war with its engineers.
Yesterday the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association (ALAEA) - which is seeking a 5 per cent annual wage increase for its 1700 members - deferred for a second time to refuse overtime. Enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations are continuing.
But can Qantas maintain its reputation in the wake of the poisonous disputes, the odious publicity, rising fuel costs, perceptions of declining service standards and most importantly last Monday's incident?
Reports yesterday suggested QF2 had experienced electrical faults before departing London, a claim Qantas denied.
"The flight departed normally ... we have no reports of any technical or other issues," a Qantas spokesman said.
The wisdom of admitting to having no knowledge aside, the incident has plenty in the industry worried, not least the plane's manufacturer.
"We're not entirely sure about what happened on that particular flight and we've got a high-level investigation into the incident," Boeing Australia spokesman Ken Morton said.
"The fact that this happened at all is highly unusual and we need to better understand the facts of the case."
It's a sentiment echoed by pilots. So far the power failure has been attributed to water leaking through a cracked drip pan under first class. The water got into the electrical system and caused a short circuit.
The pilots switched to emergency battery power which lasts for at least 30 minutes.
Fortunately the plane was about halfway through its descent into Bangkok and was on the ground 15 minutes later.
But a pilot who asked not to be identified said the critical elements in a power failure of this kind were where you were and whether it was night or day.
"In Europe or Asia there's plenty of places you can go but in the middle of the Pacific where the nearest place is three hours away, you'll probably have to stick it in the water," the pilot said.
Mr Morton was unable to say just what Boeing recommended to its customers in terms of maintenance inspections for the drip trays, although he confirmed Boeing did provide extensive recommendations in relation to maintenance.
"There are some areas of the plane that command more attention than others," he said.
"A lot of components are maintained on condition that they don't have a finite life which means if they are not broken they don't have to be replaced," Mr Morton said.
Qantas has one maintenance division based in Sydney comprising employees but outsources maintenance at its Avalon base outside Melbourne.
A spokesman was unable to say when the plane was last inspected or where.
Depending on where the fault lies will have a big bearing on whether Qantas' reputation finishes the year with fewer blemishes than when it started. Not that is necessarily so important any more. As it showed in 2007, a few stains didn't undermine Qantas' incredibly profitable bottom line.