Keg,
I agree with your sentiment. In some areas the degree of the cuts are that great, that it actually becomes less efficient or reliable an operation.
However, some of the "efficiencies" are long overdue (human costs aside)
The fact that QF were paying people (who weren't dispatchers) to arrange paper flight plans and Notams in a manila folder & staple them together was ludicrous.
How about Flight Crew writing the fuel order on a piece of paper and leaving it in the "in tray" so someone else could then phone an order to a third party.
One fleet manager now completing the work of two? The wheels haven't fallen off the operation has it? Aircraft are still flying.
Some of the inefficiencies around the joint have been laughable for years, but they weren't recognised cause they were "the norm"
ps: It's quite possible that the individual in training schedule had been made redundant the day before. I attempted to contact someone recently, only to find out they had "left the business"
MC