Qantas did NOT start up Jetconnect.
Unfortunately guys Qantas DID in fact start Jetconnect back on the 11th July 2001 hence my initial statement that Qantas started Jetconnect 10 years ago with the help of Qantas Mainline pilots flying domestic New Zealand flying. Main shareholder: Geoffrey James Dixon.
All to be seen on the NZ companies website. Read all about it and do some research instead of putting me on the cross with no trial.
I guess it was a bit like a "link" carrier only in New Zealand, out of sight out of mind. It all started to turn to poos when Jetstar took over NZ domestic flying (not a squeak from the Qantas pilots then) and Jetconnect were shuffled into it's current piggie in the middle situation doing Tasman flying. Probably because of the local employment laws when replacing one company product with another under the same company umbrella.
Yep you can all go on about being a "labour hire company" and "theres no record of Jetconnect paying for fuel" but at the end of the day they do in fact pay their own way as a separate company, they do in fact have a bank account and they are probably one of the only operators on the Tasman to be currently making a profit.
And yes they were ex Australian Airlines excecs come Qantas A380 Captains that sorted the company out. At the end of the day it was a beast that was created by you Qantas people and assisted in the early days by you Qantas pilots so stop ya bloody whinging!!
Quack
Keg, you are incorrect about Qantas pilots flying the Tasman until Jetconnect were taken over by Jetstar. Jetconnect were doing roughly just over half the Tasman flying on B737-300/400 for quite a number of years before Jetstar took over NZ domestic. It's only since the B767 has been taken off the Tasman and replaced with Jetconnect that the extra exposure with the unions has come about.