These are pretty important meetings...........
Qantas bosses jet off to NY for key board meet
CITY BEAT: Rebecca Urban | June 11, 2008
QANTAS might have grounded some passengers due to the mounting cost of fuel, but it clearly has no intention of doing the same to its directors.
Despite last week announcing the closure of several routes -- particularly to Japan and Southeast Asia -- the airline will hold its next board meeting in the US.
Directors, including chairman Leigh Clifford, John Schubert and Peter Cosgrove, will jet off to New York next week for what chief executive Geoff Dixon described as "the most important meeting the company's had in the past five years". So much for saving money on jet fuel.
Cheap shots aside, Qantas has some good reasons for holding the two-day meeting in the Big Apple.
Airbus executives will be flying in from Toulouse to brief directors on the delivery schedule for the two-storey A380 jets that have been delayed repeatedly due to production problems. The new fleet is supposed to arrive by August, yet rumours of further delays have apparently left many inside the Qantas camp nervous.
The board will also meet with senior executives from Boeing, who will provide an update on the program for building its new 787 Dreamliner, which is more than a year behind schedule. Qantas is Boeing's biggest customer, having ordered 65 of the new aircraft to replace its ageing fleet.
Not surprisingly, Dixon has organised a few meetings at New York's top investment banks to discuss financing options for the fleet acquisition.
He will be accompanied by his merry team of potential successors -- executive general manger John Borghetti, chief financial officer Peter Gregg and Jetstar boss Alan Joyce.
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.......... and with our recent record of punctuality I can only surmise that the trough feeders will all be traveling with United.