No air-time from Virgin boss John Borghetti | Herald Sun
Geoff Easdown From: Herald Sun March 06, 2011 12:00AM
VIRGIN Blue chief John Borghetti can expect an angry grilling from senators when he gives evidence to their high-level committee on pilot training and airline safety later this month.
Mr Borghetti offended key committee members by opting to be on a flight last Friday rather than appear before a specially convened committee hearing at which evidence was being tabled from the heads of Australia's three major airlines.
Both Mr Borghetti's absence and the no-show of Virgin's chief pilot Sean Donohue, sparked an angry outburst from one senator who asked whether Virgin was taking a serious approach to air safety.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon also described as "an insult" the brevity of Virgin's two-page submission.
"Please take this back, Mr Borghetti, I think a two-page submission is an insult to the committee and to the travelling public," he told two lower-ranked executives who attended the hearing in place of the CEO and Capt Donohue - who was called away to fly to earthquake-devastated Christchurch.
Senator Xenophon this week fired off a 16-page question sheet - aimed largely at Qantas and its low-cost offshoot Jetstar - after being dissatisfied with answers at the inquiry.
Virgin Blue corporate affairs head Danielle Keighery told BusinessDaily last night Mr Borghetti was committed to flying to the Middle East last week to host the launch of the airline's Australia-Abu Dhabi service.
She said the committee was advised of the clash but no new dates were offered.
"If you look at the actual inquiry two things I would say is that they were very technical issues that were being discussed and it is a very unusual practice for a CEO to go," she said.
Senior Liberal senator Bill Heffernan, who chairs the committee, agreed that some senators were concerned that they could not get detailed answers from the two Virgin Blue executives who appeared.
Mr Borghetti, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, Jetstar Group chief Bruce Buchanan are to be recalled when the hearings resume on March 19 because of fresh information given to the committee.
The matters include an incident where a Jetstar A320 aircraft came within 11.5m of the ground during a missed approach at Tullamarine on July 21, 2007.