Some food for thought:
Labor is a significant cost to an airline and one of the few things that can be controlled by management.
Airline profits on average are wafer thin and every bit counts.
Airlines can’t attract capital investment without proving cost savings, efficiency gains and labor reform.
The cost of labor at QF is way beyond even keel when compared to MOST carriers in Asia and certainly not even in the same market as the Chinese carriers who have only just starting cutting up QF market share. The average cockpit crewmember in a Chinese cockpit would cost the airline about 20% of the cost of a pacific baron.
A 30% savings in cockpit crew cost at QF could save the company upwards of several hundred million dollars per annum. Which company would not want this saving to be made?