Personally, I believe the biggest management failing has been failing to grow the airline.
The cost; inestimable.
How is that an airline such as Emirates has grown and runs three daily services into all major Australian ports (and they are chockers and looking to add capacity with A380 etc), yet QF goes where- and how often? In a period of unprecedented and uninterrupted growth, Dixon is managing to REDUCE the size of the airline.
The short term gain has been had. Running QF (or any business) as a cash cow is, at best, a short term 'strategy'. How much could the airline, and hence the shareholders, be making now if Qf had grown in place of (or at least matched pace with) the Emirates, Etihads, Qataris, SQs etc? We'll never know, and I guess GD knows THAT. He wont be around when what's left of the airline has to grapple with a downturn.
Would've been a good strategy if the sale had gone thru, mind you....and when I say good strategy, I mean good for GD.