CEO Virgin Australia on Inside Business 22 July

[Spotl]

John Borghetti interview this morning with Alan Kolha on Inside Business and reported by Ben Sandilands Plane Talking (http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/)
It can also be seen on ABC iview (http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/series/2935078)

[TIMA9X]

or if out of town... here

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interesting

[bangbounceboeing]

Nothing actually said thou, he doesn't give away much does he......
Hope they get a 330 on the bne-per run soon as flt is always chockers

[3 Holer]

This gentleman could have been the CEO of Qantas. If I were a QAN shareholder I would be thinking, my shares could have been in double figures by now.

Again, the cards have fallen Virgin's way. It can't be just good luck - can it?

[SOPS]

If that man was CEO of Qantas..what a world beater it would be...............

[AlphaLord]

Intelligent,calm,polished,well informed.There is only really one competent CEO in Australian Aviation.The rest are merely pretenders

[skychild]

Such a smart, clever, articulate and humble man. I hope Qantas realise what they have lost and the detrimental effect their decision has caused them.

Silly! Silly! Silly!

[standard unit]

Qantas was once run by them.

Not so any more......:{

[ohallen]

There is no way that the rat exec or board would think any decision they made was detrimental to the company, so stop dreaming.

If ever there was proof that they have no idea on how to run a business, then JB has proven it in spades by taking the DJ gig and racking up results while driving a positive strategy.

Now if only someone cared or was listening there may be hope, but not so.

The rat is on a downward spiral of their own making and there is nothing that will change this unless the Board and CEO are ousted, and that just isn't going to happen because there are too many egos involved. It wont die but it will wither and just disappear into an irrelevant state while Execs take all the kudos for executing a brilliant strategy that was everyone else's fault while they ramped up the bonuses.

[crystalballwannabe]

Could QF start a "buyback" at $1.03 must be worth a look....

They have some cash in the piggy bank - would this be a step forward from QF management to start turning the tables?

Interesting comment about market share. With two carriers 50/50 would be "even steven". I think he knows 65 percent will be unattainable soon, infact I suspect a 51/49 for Virgin would be on his mind!!!!

[porch monkey]

Who owns the shares is irrelevant. So how do you figure a buy back would be a turning point? The problem is strategy, direction, workplace and customer relations, and presently, product. They can all be fixed, but time is running out, and it certainly won't be accomplished by this bunch of f@ckwits.

[ohallen]

Not sure I agree that shareholders are irrelevant, because they could have fixed this (or stopped it from happening) but they bought the spin that was dealt out and allowed it to proceed.

Now they will suffer the financial pain for their choices and probably don't give a rats about the pain of staff or once loyal customers.

[Arnold E]

Now they will suffer the financial pain for their choices and probably don't give a rats about the pain of staff or once loyal customers

I would have thought that the big shareholders are not playing with their money anyway, so you are right they dont give a rats.:sad:

[Ascent]

Aren't there enough threads on the board to talk about how good JB would have been at the top of QF, or how to turn QF around ? :ugh:

[The Green Goblin]

There sits a positive business leader who gets things done.

Not having JB as QF CEO and not buying 777s are the two biggest mistakes of the past decade.

[Transition Layer]

From the Plane Talking article:

Asked by Alan Kohler about the domestic business class fare contest that had broken out with Qantas, Borghetti said the airline was undercutting Qantas on price by around 25% and was prepared to go deeper, and that it was a return to competition at that level that ended with the collapse of Ansett in 2001.

But was it contributing to profits? Borghetti said it was important to look at the broader picture, and the halo effect the top level of product had for the airline as a whole, an answer which the subsequent panel discussion unanimously interpreted as being that it was making a loss* on business class.

Everyone seems to have glossed over this bit. All those shiny new paint jobs, new jets, new uniforms and advertising campaign will eventually be a drain on the bottom line. The undercutting can't (and won't) go on forever.

[The Green Goblin]

All that may cost money transition layer, but it generates revenue.

The emperors at the rat have forgotten that. All they know is how to save money and cost cut. Even when the try to improve the product it's in the cheapest way they can.

It's a joke.

There's a stark difference to flying in Jetstar Virgin or Qantas these days.