.....and the now familiar reply from Texas Tony....
There is a lot going on across Maintenance Operations this week, but before I come to that, I wanted to call out some of the great efforts of our people.
Firstly I want to thank the London LMO team. VH- OQI arrived from Dubai recently with a number of issues to contend with. The team set out to source and replace parts and then work with Rolls Royce to carry out the necessary inspections. Their efforts saw the aircraft ready for its next service the following evening and avoided any disruption to our passengers. Special thanks go to LAMEs Jonny Foyle, Graham Calderwood and the rest of the LHR team, also Rob Marsano and Brian Taylor from MOC. Excellent work by all involved.
Next I would like to recognise the SAM folks who ‘rescued’ QF 1 from a major delay on 19 July. When the aircraft was due to leave the door was proving difficult to shut correctly and was indicating open even though the door was latched and closed. The SAM team identified the fault and ordered the necessary parts. The crews then worked together to rescue the flight with the least amount of disruption to an aircraft full of passengers. The defect was fully assessed and rectified with QF1 pushing back at 2036 giving the Tech crew a much needed buffer for their duty requirements and our engineers a great sense of accomplishment. A big thank you to the Engineers of SAM, and all of the areas supporting them: Paul Blanksby, Rob Paull, Senad Kacanic, Andrew Jopling, Paul Heath, Fabian Mueller, Chris Robinson, Traj Cvetanovski, Mick Webb, Mo Khan, Jarrad Rust, Steve Byra, Ryan Leech, Vince Romeo, Brian Taylor, Matt Anderson and Jon Ludlow.
As I said, this week has seen a lot of change happening across LMO in particular, but it’s great to see that even in these time of change, with lots of moving parts, our people are still delivering some amazing results. We have Best in Class OTP and a service to our customers that is second to none.
On Tuesday we started the process of letting some of the LAMEs in the Sydney terminals know that they would need to transfer to SAM. We also published the latest version of the selection criteria for AMEs and the indicative points required to retain a position in each area. I know our AMEs would like to get to a point of certainty as soon as possible and I hope this now gives them some further clarity on where they might sit and what options they might want to consider.
This week we had a phone conference with the Alliance unions to bring them up to date on the latest EOI and mitigations, and respond to some of the issues and questions they raised. There has been some movement and right now there are still 50 positions of remaining overcapacity but some 56 job opportunities in both Brisbane Base Maintenance and Perth. Your Port and Ops Managers will be sharing this same information at your next tool box. Our next meeting has been set for Friday 8 August.
We didn’t meet with the ALAEA this week due to our ability to release one Melbourne delegate. I have read their latest members notice and admit to a profound disappointment. My reading into this letter is a desire by the ALAEA Federal Secretary to continue to perpetuate an environment of fear and uncertainty for our people. This is totally unnecessary and is a ploy to keep an air of conflict in play.
He may continue to speculate on what changes might be around the corner, but I have no plans apart from bedding down the Line Maintenance Operating model on which we have been consulting for over five months in good faith. While I can’t guarantee what might change in the world around us and how we may need to address these changes, I can say once we have addressed this current level of overcapacity in Line Maintenance, these types of major step changes should be behind us.
What we are going through right now in LMO is a result of no change being made to the business over the last ten years. Fleet have come and gone, maintenance practices have changed, our network has adapted to the market, and our aircraft don’t need the same maintenance as they did ten years ago. It’s left us playing catch up. Catch up to our own maintenance needs, the manufacturer requirements, our network footprint, the industry and our competitors.
In making any decision about our business I weigh up three things. Does it lower our cost and return value? Does it improve operations and help the customer? and is it a benefit for our people? My ultimate goal is to ensure these things are always in balance so I can protect jobs and create a very strong future for Qantas Engineering. Unlike the Federal Secretary of the ALAEA who trades in fear and rhetoric and bears no allegiance to Qantas, his distorted views only serve to unsettle people even more. I hold a view that our engineers come to work each day to do a good job for Qantas. They want to see Qantas successful and in turn secure their future. My responsibility is to keep this the best LMO business it can be with the best engineers working safely and securely within it. I ask you to keep this balance within your thoughts going forward.
I want to get to a point where adjustments to our business are ongoing without the need for any major announcements or cutbacks. Any adjustments we need to make in the future should be managed naturally, gradually and comfortably through attrition, retirement, promotion and other processes. We do need to work together to get to this point.
I know you all come to work each day to do a great job for the airline and for your customers. This really shows in the results we are seeing and the fact that I am never short of good news to recognise in my weekly updates.
Thank you for all you do.
Be Safe
Tony
What say you in reply to that drivel FEDSEC?