Dixon performs badly on lateline business..........

[speedbirdhouse]

Especially when describing the BKK power loss incident.

He claims that it wasn't as bad as originally reported there was still one engine running:rolleyes:

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/business/items/200802/s2169315.htm

[Capt Wally]

Oh boy this guy can't lie straight in bed ! Am listening to it right now & i'm now put off my breakky !:bored: This will create a stir amongst those in the know (us pilots).
Words such as 'restructuring', 'efficiency' & 'cost savings in general come at the expense of one source.........EMPLOYEES !!

The best thing (the only thing) GD said when asked by the presenter "will you be staying"? (at the helm) he replied NO !!!.......phewwwww.....there is a GOD afterall !


More to come am sure

CW

[flying-spike]

"He claims that it wasn't as bad as originally reported there was still one engine running"

Don't want to be seen to be defending the indefensible but he said there was "still power from one engine"...Electrical power as well as the thrusty type stuff.

But you are right, he does put you off your Wheeties.

[Jabawocky]

Thought they landed on Battery power?

If not, and still had one genset online.......maybe it was not quite as dire as it could have been!

Still not funny if it happens on your watch!:uhoh:

J

[QFinsider]

It is the management operational disconnect. His inability to communicate at even a basic level to a journalist who knows less technically than he does is why the business is in the bad shape it is in.

Having a rudimentary technical understanding is required in industries where the result of financial slash and burn can kill people. dixon doesn't know so he doesn't care. and at $6m per annum he should...

[flyitboy]

$6 Mill PA hey? Well GD looked like shti!! He's welcome to the money, being hated that much by the QF employees wouldn't be worth a hundred times that!
All the kings horses & all the kings men can't make GD look like new again!

The only good thing about it for pilots is that when he goes as we all will some day obviously his legacy can slowly be rectified. Nothing is forever, not even GD


F

F

[otto the grot]

He said Jetstar's cost base was about the same as that of Tiger Airways and about 20 per cent lower than Virgin's, based on numbers released this week by its Brisbane-based rival.

This guy truly thinks we are idiots. Jetstar the same as Tigers cost base????

[Hoofharted]

Dont celebrate too soon, his replacement may be even worse.............."When Irish eyes are smiling" :{

[PLovett]

QFinsider

is why the business is in the bad shape it is in

For ****'s sake, the company has just announced an increase in its profits for the 6 month period. I know that staff are unhappy but in the airline industry across the world, profit figures like that do not equate to "bad shape".

I'd hate to see what you would say if it was making a loss and laying off staff instead of expanding.:oh:

[Blip]

Ask a Perth resident what shape they think Qantas is in at the moment! Or a Brisbane resident for that matter.

[Launch_code_Harry]

otto-the-grot wrote:
This guy truly thinks we are idiots. Jetstar the same as Tigers cost base????Going to have to disagree with you Otto. This is possible when you take into account fuel hedging, bulk aircraft purchases from Airbus, US dollar income that qf earns & other benefits from significant economies of scale.
I'm not directly comparing cost bases, just highlighting that there are many other significant costs beyond the 'crew cost' component that actually make a much bigger difference. Does tiger even hedge their fuel?
Of course this merely highlights the more subtle aspects of the cross-subsidisation of j*.

[denabol]

QFinsider.

I joined a few weeks ago for the specific purpose of lurking and learning more about what pees people off in Qantas because I am a shareholder in it and a few other related industries and disconnect sums up my unease with them, good numbers notwithstanding.

When I started lurking this afternoon i saw a message from the administrator chiding me for not contributing. But I have bugger all to contribute, and patiently listening and sifting through the clutter is what I'm here for from time to time.

I heard the interview too and thought Dixon was on some sort of medication. He sounded vague and uncertain. I think he has subjugated the safety culture that once was Qantas to make the numbers crush the competitors here and abroad. My own thoughts are that he and his team will fail to crush anyone other than idiots like the Oz Jet or SkyWorldAir lot or whatever they are called, but risk loosing it all if they do not engage the skills that keep airlines safe. That said, I think they have done some pretty smart things too, but will come undone over the details. I have by the way met some real idiots as pilots, and some retired Qantas guys around here seem to think the career driven suck up to management and do anything to get a promotion type of pilot will probably end up being the one that scatters one over the landscape.

So the more I lurk the more alarmed I feel. You guys are ultimately going to see one or more Australian carriers torn to pieces by this end process of management driven erosion of the safety culture, and it will ruin lots of lives and careers.

[otto the grot]

The point here is that no one, let alone Dixon, knows Tigers cost base cause they havent let that bit of info out yet.

Dixon only wishes that Jetstar was at Tiger levels, 'cause word is there cost base is very very low. Don't forget any benefits Jetstar receives from QANTAS would be easily reciprocated by Tiger and its' relationship with Singapore.

[Launch_code_Harry]

Fair call otto, I missed the subtly of your comments.

[Quokka]

denabol,

Welcome to PPRuNe.

[busdriver007]

Yes welcome Denabol,
You may like to read the demise of Eastern in the States written about Frank Lorenzo called "Grounded" and the "From Worst to First" about his successor Gordon Bethune and you will see what is needed to rectify this appallingly situation. The parallels are amazing. Unfortunately GD has surrounded himself with like-minded individuals and the time needed to change the "Corporate Culture" will not be overnight. The enthusiasm and dedication is all but gone and this will take time to recover. The majority of staff are more worried about their own job than concentrating on taking on the Tigers and the Virgin Blues of the world. Rest assured these are not and will not be the only competitors over the next few years. Emirates and Singapore will have the same aeroplanes as QF but the big difference will be inside and guess what it's the people that make the difference. Let us know how it looks in 6 months.

[Sunfish]

My own view of why Dixon was looking bad is that he has realised that the little band of narcissists he hired has royally stuffed it, and that the current American financial hurricane is going to have fallout. This will perhaps negate his cunning plan to maximise QF's share price at the time that his options convert.

My view of course is that he has gutted the company to produce short term gains and the damage will not be apparent until after he has left - a common tactic which better Boards have recognised and dealt with. Why do I say this? Because if you read enough of Pprune you will see a plethora of posts by QF people criticising short term thinking resulting in stupid and costly decisions, many to do with outsourcing and deliberately abusing their staff (how would You like to be called a dinosaur, part of a legacy airline?).

The trouble is that the American financial storm is going to raise the cost of borrowing, reduce loads and revenues, and make certain operations, like outsourcing to China, more risky - and Qantas, thanks to Dixon and the Board, seems to have accepted a higher level of risk (major purchases of new types for example, radical restructuring of engineering etc.) than I would personally consider prudent.

If I was planning for whats coming, I would be trying to reduce gearing, have a locally (and well) maintained fleet and be running a consolidated company (no Jetstar Asia etc.) with a very lean management team and a dedicated staff (who might forgo pay increases in an "emergency").

This Qantas is a long way from doing, in fact they have done the reverse in my opinion, and it's just dawned on Dixon that Americas woes might be his undoing.

[flyitboy]

Good thoughts there 'sunfish', well said. GD has little to worry about other than not looking good on TV !:bored: Which he looked dreadful, his getting his slowly but surely!
Australia's history books show QF as our original great airline started way back then by forsighted hard working people. The hard working bit is there strong as ever but the forsight has long gone, God 'elp us with what's next written in our history books !:bored:

'Quokka' what you should have said to the newbie 'denabol' was ...."welcome to the real world "!


F

[denabol]

Everybody,

Thanks for quite an eyeful of stuff to think about and I'll get those books too.

I've had a number of people point me at the bonus oriented culture at Qantas and Telstra (where I bailed some time back, maybe a bit too soon) and ask the question where does the food chain snap if each year you have to find more so called fat to consume. How lean is too lean. I think this board is telling me it's recogniseably too lean when the Swiss cheese holes line up and something drops out of the sky.

There has to be a line of ultra-efficiency somewhere beyond which everything gets snuffed.

But shareholders and managers don't seem to ever ask themselves these questions so far as I can tell.

I don't see any mechanism for correcting this headlong rush to disaster other than intervention by an army of government safety and systems inspectors. When I naively suggested this in a pub conversation with a few ex TAA and Ansett people (who suggested this board was a place to listen in) we nearly had to resuscitate one of them who had a choking fit.

This is why I think something awful will happen, regardless of what happens to the Aussie economy, which is likely to cop a kicking in the next few years anyhow.

[Bumpfoh]

How lean is too lean. I think this board is telling me it's recogniseably too lean when the Swiss cheese holes line up and something drops out of the sky.


Read a few of the QF Engineering threads of late and this gives you an idea of too lean to which I concur first hand!:ugh:

Mangement offer mass redundancies which appeal greatly to the nearing retirement age populous of QE and to the disengaged as well and then state "that if they express interest in redundacy then they obviosly don't want to be here and we don't them here". :eek:

Looks great on the books at the end of the FY, bring on the bonus.:yuk:

It's then up to the poor sods that are left to carry the can as the ones that have gone can't be replaced by law for a given period and the planned workload doesn't get any lighter.

And so the holes start to line up.:uhoh:

[busdriver007]

More wisdom for you Denabol from Professor Roy Green at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in 2007. "There is no Skill Shortage in this country but a short-sighted grab for cash mentality from the corporate elite". I wonder who he was talking about? The Kiwis who read this can correct me but didn't Rob Fyfe take a 30% pay cut when he took on the job of CEO. If he did then that's leadership. QF was built on a reputation of more than the minimum and over and above the industry standard. What are they doing? Fingers crossed! :confused:

[Chocks Away]

QFinsider sums it up very with with just this alone:
It is the management operational disconnect. His inability to communicate at even a basic level to a journalist who knows less technically than he does is why the business is in the bad shape it is in.

... sound like most companies around here, brother!:D

[lowerlobe]

Funnily enough Darth was once a journo,so you would think his performance would have a bit more polish and positive impact ....

Then again maybe he wasn't that good as a journo....

[amos2]

...and he was decidedly off colour this morning on Inside Business. I figured he and Allan Kohler had had a bit of a stouch before the cameras rolled. They both seemed relieved when it was over. Then again Kohler probably knows he's a fool!

[turbinejunkie]

Here's the link for all interested:

http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/content/2007/s2170870.htm

Regards,

TJ:ok: