QF guys, its sad to see you lose more contracts yet again. However Qantas engineering is not gods gift to aviation. Whilst I acknowledge there are a lot of amazingly talented engineers there a plenty of nuffys to make up the balance. Good on Jetstar I say. If they pay less then its up to the LAME and us to keep OUR wage up. The pilots are going through the same thing right now. maybe we should take a leaf out of their book.
Contracts are not "lost" due to being uncompetetive. They are lost due to incompetence and arrogance. The impending "loss" of Jetstar 330's is no real loss to QF as a whole, as it is a QF Group Airline. The total dollars within the group don't change, just the supposed costings will.
My bet is, that this is the prelude to the 787's due to arrive within the next 12-24 months (depending when Boeing can get its act together). When Jetstar get the first 15 aircraft, their engineers will be trained up to service their own, and may even get the QF contract for the line servicing of the aircraft. Jetstar is growing at the expense of its parent company. QF may well become a support airline for the ever growing Jetstar