Of course Jetstar benefits from being within the QF group, I don’t recall suggesting that this was not the case. However, Jetstar, unlike its US cousins mentioned above, is kept considerably more at arms length and as a result does not see the cost migration from QF to the same degree as happened at Song, for example.
“Labour costs, with respect to pilots wages are a very very small part of the big picture.”
Labor costs are one of the few costs an airline can control and the largest expense incurred by an airline. Pilot costs are one of the most significant. Labor costs are sometimes the only way in which an airline can differentiate itself from another airline competing for a finite inflow of capital.
The business will NOT support the difference in labor costs between Jetstar and QF if it does not need to. The fact that Jetstar can attract crew to fill its cockpits on Jetstar terms of employment signals acceptance of a change in the expectation of the labor market.
Cutting pilot salaries alone will probably not change the course of QF’s future a great deal, but if a business can achieve the same result on lower wages, then why wouldn’t it?
Note: I am not a manager. I do not work for Qantas or Jetstar and never will. I love money and the toys it brings. I wish every pilot at QF the very best. But I am aware that my labor is being sold on a changing market that is becoming increasingly more competitive and it is important to balance my greed against the price an airline is willing to pay for my services.