68M is peanuts in comparison to the removal of the complete workforce. QFA will take an enormous time to regenerate flight capability should those "locked out" choose to depart. As a group, there is work out there for B737/B744 and B767 guys, as well as A330, with the B737 and A330 being the greatest demand. The engineers are in demand in many areas, but frankly, as a group you have been abused since the early 90's and I continue to wonder why any remain in the industry.
A full shut down will cost in the order of 1.2B in refunds, and around 120-140m a week in fixed costs. QFA may well cease to exist
, (and of course, in such an event, so will Jetstar
). The vacuum will be filled eagerly by existing external international capacity, and by virgin domestically. No 3rd party carrier is going to need to provide ACMI capacity to QFA, they do not need to, they will just bury them
. Open skies, great concept!
To the institutional investors; you are getting what you paid for, your investment is circling the drain, and you were warned repeatedly of the lunacy of the management team and chose to close ranks. Well done. You may well have just killed another Australian icon.