The biggest ‘real’ cost that Qantas has is ‘Alan Joyce’. As long as he keeps delaying the aircraft upgrades the further Qantas will fall behind and will just disappear like many of the other iconic brands. How he manages to convince the Qantas board that he is worth his package defies logic, but maybe the whole board needs a refresh. Just goes to prove how well privatisation of government assets works for the citizens.
What he is really saying is that finance for new and fuel efficient aircraft is not available due to the higher risk lenders face, and the cash reserves will be used to prolong the inevitable demise of the company if no solution to their woes is found. An agreement with Emirates including access to cheaper fuel may be the answer.