Ah - I see - I wondered if that's what you were referring to...
Yes, I can give some insight.
Again - not wanting to troll you all - but here's what happened, and it may make tough reading.
When I joined NZ, one of the first things that Robbie and a certain ex NZ employee who is now working for you did - was sack 600 LAMEs.
They outsourced heavy engine maintenance.
Holy heck - the sh1t hit the fan.
The unions screamed - circulated the usual photos of busted engines repaired with seatbelts - dire warnings about safety, loss of certain trades forever etc.
The media were in an uproar.
Do you know what happened?
Precisely... nothing.
The jets kept flying, no-one died, the airline didn't stop.
That move sent a very important message - don't mess with us, we are going to reform the business whether you like it or not.
And they did - the next stop was corporate - approx 20 per cent cost out.
It was brutal.
But it was also a clear commercially focused message to the workforce that things had to change - and were going to.
Now - the difference with NZ is that there's also $800 million of Govt money in there propping it up.
QF is a different proposition - it has to exist as a pure commercial entity.
Which makes control of costs even more of an imperative.
Look at it from a bankers point of view - "You want more of my money invested in your airline? Well, you show me you can live within your means first."
I can't control the cost of Singapore jet.
But I can control the cost of labour.
Again - watching this all is very sad - having been through it all before.
But it just seems absolutely inevitable what your management team have to do.
Last edited by tartare; 15th Jun 2012 at 00:39.