It seems that the term 'accountable manager' certainly doesn't apply to the current CEO. Perhaps 'untouchable manager' is more appropriate?
It's a good point when you consider these stories from News Ltd today via The Wall Street Journal, (of all media outlets)
IR battle sees Qantas pay price in market share
- by: Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
- From: The Australian
- February 02, 2012 12:00AM
QANTAS mainline's share of the international market slumped to less than 18 per cent last October under the impact of industrial action that ultimately prompted it to ground its fleet at the end of that month.
Government international airline statistics released yesterday show the carrier's share of the market into and out of Australia fell almost two percentage points, to 17.6 per cent, as several major competitors gained ground.
The fall dragged down the overall share held by all Australian-designated airlines from 34 per cent to 32.9 per cent, with Pacific Blue at 5.1 per cent, V Australia at 1.8 per cent and Strategic Airlines at 0.6 per cent.
The Qantas Group -- which includes mainline and Jetstar international operations as well as Jetstar Asia -- accounted for 25.8 per cent of the market, down from 27.5 per cent the previous year. This compared with 9 per cent at Singapore Airlines, 8.9 per cent at Air New Zealand and 8.1 per cent at Emirates.
Overall, international scheduled passenger traffic for the month was up 4.1 per cent, to 2.471 million.
However, a 7.7 per cent rise in the number of available seats meant overall seat utilisation fell from 79.2 per cent in October 2010 to 76.7 per cent last October.
Low-cost carriers accounted for 19.2 per cent of the market, down from 19.4 per cent in the previous period. They plan to add flights later this year, with new services from Malaysia's AirAsia X and Singaporean-based Scoot.
The figures were revealed as Garuda Indonesia said it would expand its network routes and frequencies throughout Asia after strong passenger movements from Australia and the region.
This included a a 12 per cent increase in outbound passengers on Australia-Jakarta routes
and from
- The Wall Street Journal
- January 31, 2012 9:10AM
AUSTRALIANS are packing their bags for overseas vacations like they've never done before. The trend, fuelled by the strong Australian dollar, is a boon for Qantas Airways and its low-cost Jetstar brand. Unfortunately for the flying kangaroo, other airlines are preparing to hop all over its turf.
Jetstar contributed 26 per cent of Qantas's earnings before interest and taxes in the year to June 30 -- $169 million out of a total of $644m. The unit has benefited from an about 50 per cent increase in Australians travelling overseas in the past five years.
But other low-cost carriers are also planning to shuttle Australians to holiday destinations in Southeast Asia too. From the middle of this year, Scoot -- owned by Singapore Airlines -- will fly 400 seats a day between Sydney and Asia.
A bigger threat might be Air Asia X, a unit of Malaysia's AirAsia, Southeast Asia's largest budget carrier by fleet size. Air Asia X recently pulled out of destinations in Europe, citing high taxes, and the company pledged to grow its business in Asia and Australia. It will start flying from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur in April, with promotional one-way tickets as low as around $60.
Qantas is not well-positioned to put up a fight.
Profit for the six months ended December 31 is expected to drop by more than half from the same period in 2010, with higher fuel costs and industrial action costing $650m.
Management's plan to stem losses on international flights by launching a premium regional airline in Asia has yet to get off the ground. Instead, it caused strikes that were stopped only after chief executive officer Alan Joyce grounded the entire fleet in October, a move that tested the patience and loyalty of passengers.
Competition also looms in the domestic business class market. Virgin Australia this month started offering business class seats on popular routes between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with ticket prices as much as 30 per cent below market rates.
Qantas says competition is nothing new.
It's adding new aircraft to Jetstar and expanding its network too. But cut-rate promotions and increased capacity will bite into pricing. Australian travelers will benefit from the turf war.
But Qantas surely won't.
Although only a small dent in the
Q group figures 25.8 per cent of the market, down from 27.5 per cent the previous year, 
says to me how badly the board and management handled
the IR situation last year. (own goal) Even AJ's baby Jetstar, struggled on its International side of the business reconfirming my belief that the long haul experiment is waning. Air Asia X's withdrawal from its long haul European routes should be setting off alarm bells with AJs two brand long haul policy...
Having said that, I note the share price jumped today
Last Price ($A) $1.6150 Change 0.0550 3.5% Prev Close 1.5600 Is someone buying up?
meanwhile
Rob Fyfe | Air New Zealand Boss Won't Work For Rivals... | Stuff.co.nz
Fyfe said he had no idea what he would do next and dismissed conjecture that he had been offered a position at Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic airline, he did rule out working for any of Air New Zealand's close competitors.