Had dinner with a consultant who had been involved with Qantas restructure. He said that once the grand plan had been rolled out and the long haul award was extinguished, the plan was to magically come up with a plan to equip Jetstar with 25 B787 to fly in both silver and red tails.
This isn't about pilots, it's about awards. Including the l/H flight attendants and engineers. There is a reason J* is working so hard on introducing the new 787. Their pilot award is 25% more efficient. Their F/A award is 66% more efficient etc etc
Hate to use Godwin's Law analogy, but this is just a little too much like a dying regime with a delusional leadership moving non-existent forces about. They had grand ideas and grand plans to smash unions and takeover the world with jetstar. But just as in history, the plans were flawed and chaotic, the supply lines (cashflow) stretched to the limit and they ultimately retreated to madness in the bunker.
QF has no ability to raise anywhere near the cash to get 25 787's. They are being forced to issue high priced bonds just to rollover existing debt. They cannot pay down debt from cashflow, nor do they generate enough cashflow for investing, they are on the hook for some 110 A320's and a few A380's that they cannot pay for. An act of magic really is the only way they will get 25 787's
However, I do not believe QF is about to go bust in the short term, as they still generate enough cash to cover existing operations. Lets again hope that history repeats. The leadership is relegated to a dark part of history and rest of the company is rebuilt and prospers. The sad part is, all the carnage along the way.