Please note that Joyce and Chairman Clifford never say that that international is not profitable, they instead hide behind euphemisms such as "not making an acceptable return". This is just sophistry.
I was wondering the same thing, Sunfish. Sometimes you see AJ being quoted that QF Int is not "meeting its cost of capital", and other times that the QF Int is loss making, sometimes even in the same article.
Doesn't not "meeting its cost of capital" imply that it is
still making a profit, just not as much of a return as required to justify the investment? Which conflicts with the quotes that QF Int is losing money.
In this morning’s reports by invited and hosted media the group’s CEO, Alan Joyce, says he is not going to spend any more money on “the premium international operation until they (start) to return their cost of capital” and will “reconsider new aircraft orders”
If this is the case, why are the new 787s going to JQ SIN which has had a worse ROC than QF mainline? Also, I find it incredible that AJ justifies spending no more money on QF Int when part of the reason current returns are poor is because of lack of expenditure and sheer neglect.