Originally Posted by Imp Shifter
Romulus, If Jetstar are pulling out of JHAS, does it mean that they'll do their own maintenance in the QANTAS hangers? With Singapore at capacity is it possible that 320 C checks could be done in Mel or am I in dreamland?
That I don't know. The intel suggests Jetstar gave JHAS some very specific requirements when they were last negotiating the contract and it was touch and go back then. JHAS scraped across the line with a 6 month extension but they dropped the ball commercially and Jetstar have had enough.
Personalities have also come into play which is an even tougher problem to overcome.
I'd love to see an employee collective or similar structure take the opportunity to really make a difference. The numbers are very very tough, no question of that, various overseas MROs are selling LAME hours for less than a base LAME
salary, that's a very tough market to compete in. There are solutions but they involve some really tough, cooperative decisions.
There *IS* a solution that keeps aviation engineering in Australia but it represents a fundamental shift of HOW we work. I have always argued that salaries aren't the problem, it doesn't make that much difference if Qantas give a 2.5% or 3% or 3.5% pay rise, if we want to keep the engineering side alive in this country we are going to have to figure out how to get rid of as many of the inefficiencies that we can and get our maintenance programs well and truly "leaned out". That was part of the principle behind bringing in salaries, the concept is to give the guys an opportunity to work less hours but with a guaranteed income whilst getting the aircraft out by actively rewarding people for getting the job done more efficiently.
It didn't work, not sure why, it has worked elsewhere, but somehow something got lost in the translation.