I think most of us at QF don't really know what to make of Geoff Dixon.
We all know that he is a tough, agressive manager who would be an extremely difficult adversary in industrial matters. But he has also been responsible for the biggest expansion of QF in recent times, and is very ambitious with his future plans for Qantas.
So what are we to make of him? Personally, I wish him well for his expansion plans. A strong profitable company is the best way for me to secure a long-term future. I just hope that the pie is divided amongst the workers when Iraq, SARS, recession etc wear off and the money starts to roll in again.
To me, loyalty to shareholders and customers is misplaced. The shareholders would sell stock in a heartbeat if they felt under financial pressure, and most pax would swap airlines in an instant to save a few bucks. Being loyal to your workers seems to be a mantra that (except for Richard Branson) has disappeared form the management textbooks. Hopefully, Geoff still has a bit of loyalty left for us.