Not Surprising
Really this is no surprise. JB was not the wunderkind he was made out to be at QF... the book that was written about the work at VA included (regardless of anyone's opinion) a very off color reference to the QF1 incident at BKK, that shocked me, coming to the book with an open mind, of amateurism and unprofessionalism. You don't make accusations like that from that position, it just sounds bad if nothing else, like sour grapes.
The way it appears from what can be gleaned is that a very large amount of money has been spent on lounges which are the most clinical, white-hospital-waiting area unappealing environments to wait in... even if it's 40 degrees I feel freezing in those lounges.
Then we had the re-branding, personally after the designer's work at QF which threw out of balance a very striking logo I'm surprised he got any work again but in he goes and comes up with a few bits of paper cut out of Virgin America, Virgin Express and Virgin Atlantic liveries moved around on a piece of paper and presented as a new image... it's the most insipid design... at least DJ you could spot from 10 miles out, like QF but not now... tail looks pink from a distance.
Then we move on to the choice of SABRE, old technology when apparently the more modern Amadeus FM/CM was embedded already at V Australia... SABRE has been a continual issue from what I've heard, less functionality than their partner's systems (except EY)... SABRE is allegedly a very good sales platform but hopeless at airports and at the delivery end - it is not easily capable of the sort of kiosk driven products that QF offers via Amadeus and even it's prior system - who's used bag drop at VA, queue up, check in, then tag bag then go to a counter and queue up again to drop your bag after showing ID - everyone in the same queue as me was asking 'what's the point when at QF I can just swipe my card get a BP, then swipe it again and deposit my own bag??? - this is part of the problem, having someone whose entire experience is sales and marketing making operational decisions such as this - I do know from the old culture in QF that airports had to fight marketing/sales for years for investment because in most sales people's mind the airport stuff 'just happened'.
On top of this, no profit for 5 years.
A few comments here have stated that the transformation has been impressive... NO, it hasn't. Non-adjustable business class on narrow-bodies results in massive disruption in aircraft changes to people who you want to keep happiest with fixed perspex screens that look cheap and it hasn't made a profit.
If it was a world class product that had increased profits then it would be impressive but all it has done is drive the airline into a debt crisis with no end in sight. You can make the best product in the world if you don't need to make a profit.
This is not saying Qantas are the be all and end all, that was once a very good airline but has been white anted but at the end of the day... public companies are required to provide a return and QF does that and VA doesn't regardless of rhetoric.
For all intents and purposes it's been a disaster and could have been done better and cheaper.
My pick would be for Delta to buy Air NZ share, maybe even increase to near majority.
BTW, Analysts are not saying NZ has made $100m dollars, they have lost approximately $100m paying $480 and share now worth $381.
Any other benefits they've received could have been obtained via marketing agreements, etc.
While I'm not defending QF either, there are some inaccuracies on this thread... both airlines benefited to an extent from lower fuel prices but QF benefited slightly more because it hedged cleverly and VA didn't, VA did hedge but not so as to take best advantage. The CEO was at QF when they were leaders in hedging so there is no excuse for VA not getting this right it would seem.
QF have taken about 3-6% capacity out of the market since the end of the 'capacity war' and VA have added .1% (WTF???).
The sooner there is a clean out at VA instead of good people being let go (sometimes because of frustration of being isolated for fighting against stupidity I'm told) the better the future will be for the good people that are in the company, many of whom are in the process of leaving through sheer frustration. Once again, anecdotal, just what I'm told as I'm not connected with VA.
As for QF, they just need a people person at the top now all the restructuring has been done.
To summarize, there's been obscene expenditure, the wrong people employed in some key positions, bad decisions on equipment and IT, lounges that are in no way competitive - I mean they had Air NZ to look at, their lounges are fine - increased debt, no profit for 5 years. All in all, not very impressive.