I wrote this on Ben's blog but thought it was pertinent to this one too. I've tidied up the spelling a little
"..........no matter how far above the clouds Flying High might be, unless he is able and willing to feed untold $M’s into QF coffers, then he might have egg on his face sooner than later.
He simply is an apologist for a company which, with AJ in shining armour and with his lady’s favour tied to his lance, is valiantly fighting its way through:
government red tape;
uneven playing fields;
the arrogance of the Hong Kong authorities for having laws;
the dastardly behaviour of Boeing/Airbus for not holding up to their end of the bargain to deliver on time;
the sheer arrogance of QF staff wanting a living wage; etc.
Oh, and the handing over of routes that were profitable or could have been profitable with some decent promotion to JQ and EK. Not everyone wants to sit with their legs under their chin or fly via the sandpit.
What’s to go wrong? Winning business plan there I would have thought, so of course QF will be profitable by about the end of the century! Move along folks, nothing to see here!"
Obviously its heavy with sarcasm but I truly fear for QF long term with this ******** (or an entire board of ********) in charge. I fear that the situation will eventually reach a momentum where confidence wanes, forward bookings decline and the airline goes into a metaphorical spin.
I've never had the skills or the health to be a pilot but I am a flying geek. I've flown QF internationally since the 70's and, since they took over TAA/Australian, domestically - all at my own expense so I'm not Platinum 1 (and thus not worthy of AJ's time) but I do consider myself a "loyal" customer, making many trips a year, and choosing QF over its competitors.
I now have fewer opportunities to do that since they have cut back so dramatically on their routes - I don't want to fly JQ to SIN or EK from DXB, even if I can land in such exotic places such as Newcastle, UK. (Sorry to any Scousers - I'm actually from not that far north of there myself and it is a much improved city in more recent times)
My opinion of AJ is unprintable but I do despair at where he is taking the airline.