Wookieerror,
It is getting late in the evening here but given you asked I shall offer you my perspective. Working for Qantas is not the point of the story. Pprune is a place where alternative opinion and constructive narrative are what the place is about. Of course not is always as it seems, that is the problem with a forum of this type.For my part, looking in on Qantas I see lots of pilots hoping the war is over.
The story at its genesis is the Perth airport saga and whether or not Qantas this time are being straightforward.Effectively can they be taken at their word?
Cognitive dissonance is probably what I am getting at.
I found Qantas an interesting case study as it is something where my gut was telling me one thing but listening to the narrative created an internal conflict.. What they say is very inconsistent. I remember the justification for a $3 billion bailout made with passion and apparent rigour. Hastily abandoned in six weeks! So I looked at it financially and found a very opaque structure.
For me, as a student of the corporation any criticism is not confined to Qantas, ask me about the banks, the government and indeed most institutions in Australia and I will likely suggest that the one thing missing is Trust. Most people at Qantas, asked for their honest opinion (with no manager around) would in my expectations have very little respect for management and even less trust.
My profession requires I am across a number of corporate models and the one thing that strikes me about Qantas is that the same mob who cried wolf are now supposedly taken at their word. I find that incredible.
I guess I am suprised how quickly forgotten is the massive campaign to denigrate people, professions and the brand .It is only a few years ago Qantas
PR were claiming pilots wanted first class travel and massages. I recall Alan Joyce claiming an A380 Captain earned more than him.
Perhaps most people chose to forget that Trust is earned, that respect is a two way street. In my opinion, the same management that did all they could to break the unions with a bunch of concocted envy rubbish, is the same one using the same words to say it is different this time.
None of the Qantas people I know ever recall Joyce saying he was wrong, other than failing to allocate seating at JQ.So perhaps they have 'learned their lesson', but is that just a hope?
If you chose to be a pilot and went to Qantas for a career cutting off any other options, then I guess it is the individual's choice as to whether vague thought bubbles constitute trust.
Trust but verify?
Verification to me means to validate the assertions management and interested parties espouse. To me Qantas falls far short of the benchmark necessary for trust. All you need to do is look at the amount of contradictory opinions communicated to the stock market, the regulators, the politicians and indeed the staff. This is time consuming but to me necessary part of verification.
There is much water to go under the bridge for Qantas. Airlines are cyclical businesses, just as the oil price 'transformed' the company, it can undo it and do so rapidly. There are a myriad of systemic risks in the real world and airlines are the first to get hurt. The staff always suffer.
I hope for all the staff that the oil price is not something that catches Qantas on the wrong side of the fuel hedge gamble, that the 787 arrives before a broader global shock attacks revenue and yield.
Perth airport (who I am certainly no fan of) are doing their own version of diligence: 'Trusting but verifying' what Qantas claim.It appears they aren't convinced, I ponder why?
I trust this clarifies the view from where I stand
