So all the QF job losses will be for what exactly?
It's all about the boards wallets, not Australian jobs.
loopholes
Qantas too has made substantial buybacks - $16 million in 2012 and $65 million the year before - wading into the market to buy shares for its executives at a time when it had been
conserving capital and suspending dividends. my bold
To the ACCC's credit, good to see they made a point about Oxford Economics and Boston Consulting.
Many on here to their credit, have said this over and over again for some time now, good to see it finally recognised and out in the open but in the eyes of many, again they get away with the smoke & mirrors.
I understand Mr Sims got the Q lawyers jumping through hoops the past week making them resubmit many documents that were deemed light on facts. To be fair to Mr Sims, it is not in the ACCC's charter to pursue all the reasons why there where problems with the documents but I think many on here would have a pretty good idea what those problems may have been.....
"The ACCC has rejected Qantas' claims that in the future without the proposed conduct, it will cease all international services and operate a virtual network in the medium to long term," it said.
The regulator considered confidential board documents and route profitability data, as well as reports provided by Qantas from Boston Consulting and Oxford Economics.
The performance of Qantas's international operations have long been a point of contention in the war of words between Qantas boss Alan Joyce and trade unions and the federal independent senator Nick Xenophon.
In its report granting approval, the regulator accepted Qantas was likely to cut services to Europe with or without the Emirates alliance but said "in all other areas" of its international operations any disadvantages were likely to be offset by its grip on the domestic market and the loyalty of frequent flyers and corporates.
The ACCC considered that Qantas did not have the same advantage as airlines in the Middle East and Asia, such as lower labour costs.
"However, the ACCC does not accept that the extent of the labour cost disadvantage are of the degree described by [Qantas and Emirates] or in the Oxford Economics report," it said.
It also did not place any weight on Qantas' claims of "structural disadvantage" due to government ownership and different tax treatment for other international airlines.
"The ACCC considers that the net effect of these factors on Qantas is unclear and therefore has not placed any weight on these claims," it said.
My main concern is for the current 744 pilots future, they did a sterling job keeping the show on the road through those difficult times when the RB 211's started playing up (all incidents handled superbly) coupled with the "dugong's" late delivery leading up to the now famous QF 32 SIN incident.
The 744 guys kept the flag flying with the usual minimum of fuss. Hope AJ LC & co remembers this now that they have got their way with the EK deal, Qantas was always home grown.. my tribute to the 744 guys...