It seems the cat is out of the bag; at least one person is calling for a Government inquiry into the Qantas business strategy.
Qantas hits political turbulence on Capitol Hill | Plane Talking
To me, this makes perfect sense. There is Australian legislation - the Qantas Sale Act, that is relevant to the actions of the company and it is therefore right and proper to examine the effect of the legislation on the Australian community and the airlines owners.
To put it simply - I cannot understand the wayQantas is managed.
The APA bid stank to high heaven. Is there a pattern of behaviour here?
Since the time of the APA bid or perhaps earlier, I fail to understand for the life of me why some actions of the company appear to directly destroy shareholder value.
If this is simple stupidity on the part of the appointed Directors and managers then all is well and good, and it most probably is. Similarly, the behaviour of Qantas in trying to gouge the last cent it can from Australian air travelers is its perfect right.
However, I, and apparently others, fail to understand why Qantas appears to consistently take actions that not only don't make it any money, but drive revenue away - and Qantas is not supposed to be a charity.
These actions include:
1. Failure to cater to the demand for direct international flights from State Capitals other than Sydney - which would win it market share.
2. Pruning of its route network despite anecdotal evidence that the flights were consistently full.
3. The entire APA bid, lock stock and barrel.
4. The current strategy of diluting the value of the brand via Jetstar, compounded by perhaps being economical with the truth about the purpose of Jetstar, if claims on Pprune about untruths are to be believed.
5. The deliberate treatment of the entire non management staff of the airline with studied contempt - any HR professional can catalog this activity - the latest example being to announce that futures will be decided on August 24Th - what is the point of making that announcement four weeks in advance - other than increasing the levels of stress and fear in the employees?
6. The new Asian "strategy" which is destined to fail. Asia is littered with the bones of Western investors.
One has to wonder; are the Qantas Board and management terminally stupid? The people of Australia. plus ALL the shareholders, are entitled to know.
I know its probably just simple stupidity, but perhaps the Government should ask that question.