Joyce to face grilling on grounding from Senate
Matt O'sullivan
November 2, 2011
THE chief executive of Qantas, Alan Joyce, will face his first grilling at the hands of federal politicians since his shock decision to ground the airline when he turns up in Canberra for a Senate inquiry on Friday.
The airline went into damage control yesterday as it attempted to patch up relations with the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese.
As Ms Gillard renewed her attacks on Qantas, its government relations boss, Olivia Wirth, made a flying visit to Canberra in an effort to repair a relationship which insiders now describe as toxic. ''The government is furious from the top to the very bottom,'' an insider said.
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Mr Joyce's appearance at the Senate inquiry into a bill proposed by independent senator Nick Xenophon and Greens leader Bob Brown aimed at reining in Qantas's aggressive overseas expansion plans has taken on extra significance since the airline's unprecedented grounding of its fleet at the weekend.
The hearing, led by Labor senator Glenn Sterle, is likely to question Mr Joyce in detail about whether his decision to ground the airline was made before Saturday.
It will be Mr Joyce's first visit to Canberra since the grounding. Although there is no support in government or opposition ranks for the legislation, Mr Joyce can expect a
frosty reception in Canberra after giving government ministers just three hours' notice on Saturday of the grounding.
Despite the bitter relations with the government, investors continued to interpret Fair Work Australia's decision to terminate a lockout and industrial action as a victory for Qantas. Shares in the airline, which resumed full services yesterday, defied a weak market to close up 1.75¢ at $1.63.
Merrill Lynch estimates Qantas will have to spend $10 million on its ''recovery phase'', which is likely to include fare reductions, more flexible tickets and bonus loyalty points to win back customers. That is on top of at least $110 million in costs from the grounding and industrial action.
Yesterday, officials from Qantas and the Australian and International Pilots Association had their first day of negotiations since the workplace umpire terminated industrial action and the airline's lockout early on Monday morning.
The pilots' union said it would be sticking to its demands for job-security clauses to be included in a new contract, despite it being unpalatable for Qantas. The aircraft engineers' union is to begin negotiations with Qantas on Monday.
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Joyce to face grilling on grounding from Senate