Future of Qantas in jeopardy: Joyce (Merged)
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Mr. Joyce boasts of the long term profitability of the airline, yet in another place states that even maintaining the purchasing power of Pilots and Engineers wages is too much for this airline to bear???????????
Even you would know that profitability in the past does not guarantee profitability in the future.
The essence of the Qantas position is that there will be no future profit unless current costs (pilot salaries) can be dramatically reduced.
From the Qantas perspective, this is the whole point of the issue.
There is no evidence on this thread (or any of the dozen others) that anybody actually grasps this important little detail.
No future profit = no future job. It is that simple.
If you think Joyce is lying, then just sit back and watch what happens to your job.
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That may be the case fgd but why do we still see huge remuneration for the executive?? If we are facing such dire times and our cupboards are bare, why did they get a 58% pay rise not so long ago??
If they were serious they would forgo any bonuses for the forseeable future to back up their rhetoric .
If they were serious they would forgo any bonuses for the forseeable future to back up their rhetoric .
FGD:
If the entire profitability of Qantas pivoted around maintaining the purchasing power of Pilots and engineers wages, I would have either slashed my wrists or run for the exits long ago.
The story of Qantas is one of Mis - investment and bad management decisions and they go back Ten years, and the continue to make the same mistakes - spending when they should be saving, and penny pinching when they should be investing.
The bonus driven culture of the place has resulted in managers adopting very short time horizons and optimising management decisions with respect to their own prosperity, not the company's.
The writing is already on the wall since the LCC?Legacy divide is already breaking down as the LCC's discover their model is unsustainable and the "Legacy carriers" become more cost conscious. .. And what is Qantas doing? Fighting battles with unions!!! This i so 1970's!!!! Talk about fighting with the tactics of the last war!
If the Qantas Board and senior management are not removed it is going to go under. The APA bid was a disaster on too many levels to even begin to discuss, then their is the complete lack of trust between management and workforce, epitomised by this pig headed group think attitude about "Legacy airlines".
FFS, get the institutional shareholders to talk to the behavioural guys at Melb and Syd business schools if you don't believe me - talk to Phil Boas about "meta messages"* He would have afield day with Jackson, Clifford, Dixon and Joyces pronouncements.
* Meta message = the message you are sending when you don't think you are sending a message.
Sunfish,
Even you would know that profitability in the past does not guarantee profitability in the future.
The essence of the Qantas position is that there will be no future profit unless current costs (pilot salaries) can be dramatically reduced.
From the Qantas perspective, this is the whole point of the issue.
There is no evidence on this thread (or any of the dozen others) that anybody actually grasps this important little detail.
No future profit = no future job. It is that simple.
If you think Joyce is lying, then just sit back and watch what happens to your job.
Even you would know that profitability in the past does not guarantee profitability in the future.
The essence of the Qantas position is that there will be no future profit unless current costs (pilot salaries) can be dramatically reduced.
From the Qantas perspective, this is the whole point of the issue.
There is no evidence on this thread (or any of the dozen others) that anybody actually grasps this important little detail.
No future profit = no future job. It is that simple.
If you think Joyce is lying, then just sit back and watch what happens to your job.
The story of Qantas is one of Mis - investment and bad management decisions and they go back Ten years, and the continue to make the same mistakes - spending when they should be saving, and penny pinching when they should be investing.
The bonus driven culture of the place has resulted in managers adopting very short time horizons and optimising management decisions with respect to their own prosperity, not the company's.
The writing is already on the wall since the LCC?Legacy divide is already breaking down as the LCC's discover their model is unsustainable and the "Legacy carriers" become more cost conscious. .. And what is Qantas doing? Fighting battles with unions!!! This i so 1970's!!!! Talk about fighting with the tactics of the last war!
If the Qantas Board and senior management are not removed it is going to go under. The APA bid was a disaster on too many levels to even begin to discuss, then their is the complete lack of trust between management and workforce, epitomised by this pig headed group think attitude about "Legacy airlines".
FFS, get the institutional shareholders to talk to the behavioural guys at Melb and Syd business schools if you don't believe me - talk to Phil Boas about "meta messages"* He would have afield day with Jackson, Clifford, Dixon and Joyces pronouncements.
* Meta message = the message you are sending when you don't think you are sending a message.
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Yes FGD, because if we reduce the salaries of our pilots and engineers, the company will turn around!
That explains why, when the pilots' union approached the company and asked what they needed from us financially, they were unable to respond!
That's why the executives keep awarding themselves payrises, without even blinking an eye!
Yes, of course you're right... Actually, why don't I work for gratis... Can't be any cheaper than that... Oh hang on, I could then come in on my days off and sweep the hangar floor and wash aircraft!
"Oh happy days..."
That explains why, when the pilots' union approached the company and asked what they needed from us financially, they were unable to respond!
That's why the executives keep awarding themselves payrises, without even blinking an eye!
Yes, of course you're right... Actually, why don't I work for gratis... Can't be any cheaper than that... Oh hang on, I could then come in on my days off and sweep the hangar floor and wash aircraft!
"Oh happy days..."
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Yes, of course you're right... Actually, why don't I work for gratis... Can't be any cheaper than that... Oh hang on, I could then come in on my days off and sweep the hangar floor and wash aircraft!
......?
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So if less than 4% of an aircraft's operating costs (pilot wages) cannot be reduced there is no hope for future profitability eh fgd?? Pathetic. You will need to do a little better with your next bleat if you hope to win the troll of the month award son.
Last edited by jaded boiler; 10th Jun 2011 at 10:52.
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Pilot salaries cost the airline something like a dollar per ticket. You could halve pilot salaries and it would make little bottom-line difference to the mess that mismanagement have put this airline in. In fact it would probably increase costs as half the pilots would leave the airline. QF spends almost as much on I.T. as pilots - and crap I.T. it is too - along with management, QF I.T. is the joke of the industry.
Its pilots are probably one of the best marketing tools the company has (along with its engineers). So the solution to the problem is to get rid of its pilots and its engineers? Joyce and Clifford probably think so, which is why they must go.
Management screwups cost this company more annually than the salaries of the pilots and engineers... Freight cartel fines, APA buyout costs, wrong aircraft, wrongly configured aircraft, bad choices of IFE, cost cutting on product such as catering, pissing customers off with JQ on routes they want to fly full-service, failure to chose the best joint ventures (alliance airlines) seriously destroying the network options, failure to invest in appropriate network destinations, failure to keep staff onside, failure to negotiate EBAs in good faith resulting in huge PIA costs, failure to maintain the image of a premium product, failure to maintain the icon status of the airline, failure to implement a good middle-management structure to create managers who proactively manage upwards with improvements to processes and products instead of just focusing on covering their own arses and KPIs... I'll stop now but could go on for pages.
Its pilots are probably one of the best marketing tools the company has (along with its engineers). So the solution to the problem is to get rid of its pilots and its engineers? Joyce and Clifford probably think so, which is why they must go.
Management screwups cost this company more annually than the salaries of the pilots and engineers... Freight cartel fines, APA buyout costs, wrong aircraft, wrongly configured aircraft, bad choices of IFE, cost cutting on product such as catering, pissing customers off with JQ on routes they want to fly full-service, failure to chose the best joint ventures (alliance airlines) seriously destroying the network options, failure to invest in appropriate network destinations, failure to keep staff onside, failure to negotiate EBAs in good faith resulting in huge PIA costs, failure to maintain the image of a premium product, failure to maintain the icon status of the airline, failure to implement a good middle-management structure to create managers who proactively manage upwards with improvements to processes and products instead of just focusing on covering their own arses and KPIs... I'll stop now but could go on for pages.
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Management screwups cost this company more annually than the salaries of the pilots and engineers... Freight cartel fines, APA buyout costs, wrong aircraft, wrongly configured aircraft, bad choices of IFE, cost cutting on product such as catering, pissing customers off with JQ on routes they want to fly full-service, failure to chose the best joint ventures (alliance airlines) seriously destroying the network options, failure to invest in appropriate network destinations, failure to keep staff onside, failure to negotiate EBAs in good faith resulting in huge PIA costs, failure to maintain the image of a premium product, failure to maintain the icon status of the airline, failure to implement a good middle-management structure to create managers who proactively manage upwards with improvements to processes and products instead of just focusing on covering their own arses and KPIs... I'll stop now but could go on for pages.
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QF or J* It's just so hard to figure out what direction it's going in.
The bonus driven culture of the place has resulted in managers adopting very short time horizons and optimising management decisions with respect to their own prosperity, not the company's.
Qantas, Malaysia Airlines to build ties, says Alan Joyce | The Australian
QANTAS will sponsor Malaysia Airlines's entry into the oneworld alliance and aims to forge closer links with the Kuala Lumpur-based airline as another way of boosting its market share in Asia. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in Singapore today that the airline had been talking to MAS for some time and would work closely with both the airline and oneworld's management team to make the changes necessary for MAS to join the alliance. The process is expected to take 18 months.
QANTAS will sponsor Malaysia Airlines's entry into the oneworld alliance and aims to forge closer links with the Kuala Lumpur-based airline as another way of boosting its market share in Asia. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in Singapore today that the airline had been talking to MAS for some time and would work closely with both the airline and oneworld's management team to make the changes necessary for MAS to join the alliance. The process is expected to take 18 months.
We only have to go back a year or so to find this little chestnut,
Air partners in flight of the discords
Scott Rochfort
February 12, 2010
Read more: Jetstar and AirAsia's historic partnership
One month on, AirAsia has now announced plans to undermine Jetstar's operations in Vietnam - Jetstar Pacific - by establishing a rival operation in the country with the start-up airline VietJet.
''The joint venture is a well-balanced combination of the management system, technical expertise, long-term experience in the airline industry, crew and international brand of AirAsia, and the financial strength, as well as Vietnamese market insights of VietJet Air,'' said the new Vietnamese rival to Jetstar Pacific.
It appears the Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger Airways is now become less concerned about the marriage of its two main rivals.
''We think this is hilarious,'' the chief executive of Tiger, Tony Davis, said yesterday.
Scott Rochfort
February 12, 2010
Read more: Jetstar and AirAsia's historic partnership
One month on, AirAsia has now announced plans to undermine Jetstar's operations in Vietnam - Jetstar Pacific - by establishing a rival operation in the country with the start-up airline VietJet.
''The joint venture is a well-balanced combination of the management system, technical expertise, long-term experience in the airline industry, crew and international brand of AirAsia, and the financial strength, as well as Vietnamese market insights of VietJet Air,'' said the new Vietnamese rival to Jetstar Pacific.
It appears the Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger Airways is now become less concerned about the marriage of its two main rivals.
''We think this is hilarious,'' the chief executive of Tiger, Tony Davis, said yesterday.
my bold
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The IATA report
Flying into trouble
Matt O'sullivan
June 11, 2011
Read more: Flying into trouble
It's always tough for an airline to make money, but Qantas finds itself in a particularly bumpy patch, writes Matt O'Sullivan.
Alan Joyce was his jocular self but in no mood to talk about the deal. Flanked by two of his senior executives, the Qantas boss joked that he would limit his views on the strategic alliance Virgin Australia had sewn up with Singapore Airlines hours earlier to a ''full stop''.
The Dubliner might have laughed it off in the foyer of the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore's answer to Dubai's luxurious Burj Al Arab, but it was obviously a big blow - and in full view of airline executives from around the world who had flown in for the annual gathering of the International Air Transport Association.
No doubt adding to the pain was that the Singapore Airlines alliance was secured in super-fast time by Virgin's chief executive, John Borghetti. A 36-year veteran of Qantas, Borghetti lost out on the top job at the national flag carrier three years ago to Joyce. His coup this week overshadowed talk from Joyce about the possibility of Qantas forming closer ties with Malaysia Airlines.
Borghetti, the former third-in-charge at Qantas who spent years grooming its premium product, had already won approval for strategic tie-ups with Air New Zealand, the US carrier Delta Air Lines and the Middle East airline Etihad. The deals are central to the motor-racing fan's plan to take Virgin upmarket and challenge Qantas's hold on the lucrative corporate travel market.
For well-heeled flyers, the prospect of a dogfight between Qantas and Virgin is a win-win. Competition is already intense between the budget airlines for leisure travellers. But looming industrial strife at Qantas also raises the possibility of travel plans thrown into chaos.
For Joyce, who served his apprenticeships at Ireland's national airline, Aer Lingus, Ansett and Jetstar, this is the beginning of a critical juncture for his leadership at the national carrier. The next few months will shape the Irishman's legacy at an airline that has long formed a part of the national identity.
Described as Qantas's worst nightmare, the Singapore Airlines dalliance with Virgin piles even more pressure on the 44-year-old as he grapples with a damaging stalemate with unions representing long-haul pilots and aircraft engineers. Then there are super-high jet fuel prices, Qantas's loss-making premium international operations, the impact of natural disasters, and consumers embracing frugality.
Its mark is plain to see. Qantas's share price slumped to fresh two-year lows this week. It has lost more than a third of its market value - or $2.26 billion - since early November, when it was forced to temporarily ground its A380 fleet after one of the superjumbos narrowly avoided disaster shortly after takeoff from Singapore. The Nancy Bird-Walton remains locked in a hangar at Changi Airport, about 20 minutes' drive from the Marina Bay Sands, awaiting repairs expected to cost well in excess of $100 million.
The confluence of events has led to Qantas's no-nonsense chairman, Leigh Clifford, publicly denying suggestions of a rift with the man he hired in favour of Borghetti and Qantas's former finance boss, Peter Gregg. But situations where a chairman comes out to defend his chief executive often raise the very questions such actions attempt to quash.
Resolving the dispute with the 1700 long-haul pilots and 1600 engineers will be crucial to restoring the faith. Yet both sides are no closer to sorting out their differences.
''They are being hard-nosed,'' says Barry Jackson, the president of the Australian and International Pilots Association. ''The current management has lost focus. We believe that they really haven't concentrated on the [premium] mainline business.''
Then there is the Transport Workers Union, which represents baggage and ramp handlers, and catering staff. The union, which has frequently been at blows with Qantas, has already threatened industrial action even before its collective employment contract expires at the end of this month.
Joyce intensified his attack on "rogue unions" on the sidelines of the IATA gathering in Singapore this week, laying most of the blame for the fall in Qantas's share price on them.
He again made clear he would not give in to their demands for pilots and engineers working in offshore subsidiaries such as Jetstar Asia and New Zealand's Jetconnect to be covered by the same conditions as their Australian-based colleagues. To do so would leave Qantas in "huge difficulty", Joyce told reporters.
Qantas's 35,000-strong workforce is one of the country's bastions of trade unionism. Those representing the pilots and engineers retain a big influence over the airline relative to their size.
''This is really heading to '89 territory here,'' says an airline executive, referring to the pilots' strike of that year. ''[Qantas management] will struggle to go forward unless they can find a way to convince everyone that they are not crying wolf. Doing nothing is not an option because they are getting outdone internationally.''
Joyce's predecessor, Geoff Dixon, was well known for regularly accentuating the negatives. But Qantas's management rejects suggestions it is resorting to hyperbole to push the unions into a backdown - the international business is losing bucketloads of cash, it insists.
Joyce emphasised it again this week: "The international losses are just something we can't sustain. We know we can't give into the outrageous demands of some of these rogue unions.''
Few doubt Qantas's premium operations are at a disadvantage to foreign airlines which operate on lower cost bases. Analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland estimate the cost base of Qantas mainline - the planes with the kangaroo on their tails - is about 50 per cent higher than Virgin's.
But the challenge has always been: how do you lower costs without harming the product?
That is made harder with a showdown just around the corner. Ballots of the long-haul pilots and engineers to vote on taking protected strike action will be completed early next month. They are expected to give their support, which will be the first industrial action by Qantas pilots in 45 years.
The pilots are unlikely to walk off the job, instead resorting to a work-to-rule campaign that includes flying slowly, stopwork meetings and refusing to do overtime. What appears relatively minor, such as not allowing for as much time as usual to travel to airports in preparation for flights or demanding a plane be checked for minor technical issues, can throw an airline's network into chaos.
Strange as it may seem, a work-to-rule can be more costly than a pilots' walkout because Qantas still has to pay their wages. And there is the flow-on effect: grumpy employees making clear to passengers their dissatisfaction, or travellers considering other airlines because of looming industrial action.
In 2008, the engineers' industrial action disrupted the plans of thousands of passengers for 10 weeks.
The dispute seriously dented on-time performance. The airline took months to recover after the dispute because of a large backlog of engineering work. Qantas estimated the dispute cost it $130 million.
Matt O'sullivan
June 11, 2011
Read more: Flying into trouble
It's always tough for an airline to make money, but Qantas finds itself in a particularly bumpy patch, writes Matt O'Sullivan.
Alan Joyce was his jocular self but in no mood to talk about the deal. Flanked by two of his senior executives, the Qantas boss joked that he would limit his views on the strategic alliance Virgin Australia had sewn up with Singapore Airlines hours earlier to a ''full stop''.
The Dubliner might have laughed it off in the foyer of the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore's answer to Dubai's luxurious Burj Al Arab, but it was obviously a big blow - and in full view of airline executives from around the world who had flown in for the annual gathering of the International Air Transport Association.
No doubt adding to the pain was that the Singapore Airlines alliance was secured in super-fast time by Virgin's chief executive, John Borghetti. A 36-year veteran of Qantas, Borghetti lost out on the top job at the national flag carrier three years ago to Joyce. His coup this week overshadowed talk from Joyce about the possibility of Qantas forming closer ties with Malaysia Airlines.
Borghetti, the former third-in-charge at Qantas who spent years grooming its premium product, had already won approval for strategic tie-ups with Air New Zealand, the US carrier Delta Air Lines and the Middle East airline Etihad. The deals are central to the motor-racing fan's plan to take Virgin upmarket and challenge Qantas's hold on the lucrative corporate travel market.
For well-heeled flyers, the prospect of a dogfight between Qantas and Virgin is a win-win. Competition is already intense between the budget airlines for leisure travellers. But looming industrial strife at Qantas also raises the possibility of travel plans thrown into chaos.
For Joyce, who served his apprenticeships at Ireland's national airline, Aer Lingus, Ansett and Jetstar, this is the beginning of a critical juncture for his leadership at the national carrier. The next few months will shape the Irishman's legacy at an airline that has long formed a part of the national identity.
Described as Qantas's worst nightmare, the Singapore Airlines dalliance with Virgin piles even more pressure on the 44-year-old as he grapples with a damaging stalemate with unions representing long-haul pilots and aircraft engineers. Then there are super-high jet fuel prices, Qantas's loss-making premium international operations, the impact of natural disasters, and consumers embracing frugality.
Its mark is plain to see. Qantas's share price slumped to fresh two-year lows this week. It has lost more than a third of its market value - or $2.26 billion - since early November, when it was forced to temporarily ground its A380 fleet after one of the superjumbos narrowly avoided disaster shortly after takeoff from Singapore. The Nancy Bird-Walton remains locked in a hangar at Changi Airport, about 20 minutes' drive from the Marina Bay Sands, awaiting repairs expected to cost well in excess of $100 million.
The confluence of events has led to Qantas's no-nonsense chairman, Leigh Clifford, publicly denying suggestions of a rift with the man he hired in favour of Borghetti and Qantas's former finance boss, Peter Gregg. But situations where a chairman comes out to defend his chief executive often raise the very questions such actions attempt to quash.
Resolving the dispute with the 1700 long-haul pilots and 1600 engineers will be crucial to restoring the faith. Yet both sides are no closer to sorting out their differences.
''They are being hard-nosed,'' says Barry Jackson, the president of the Australian and International Pilots Association. ''The current management has lost focus. We believe that they really haven't concentrated on the [premium] mainline business.''
Then there is the Transport Workers Union, which represents baggage and ramp handlers, and catering staff. The union, which has frequently been at blows with Qantas, has already threatened industrial action even before its collective employment contract expires at the end of this month.
Joyce intensified his attack on "rogue unions" on the sidelines of the IATA gathering in Singapore this week, laying most of the blame for the fall in Qantas's share price on them.
He again made clear he would not give in to their demands for pilots and engineers working in offshore subsidiaries such as Jetstar Asia and New Zealand's Jetconnect to be covered by the same conditions as their Australian-based colleagues. To do so would leave Qantas in "huge difficulty", Joyce told reporters.
Qantas's 35,000-strong workforce is one of the country's bastions of trade unionism. Those representing the pilots and engineers retain a big influence over the airline relative to their size.
''This is really heading to '89 territory here,'' says an airline executive, referring to the pilots' strike of that year. ''[Qantas management] will struggle to go forward unless they can find a way to convince everyone that they are not crying wolf. Doing nothing is not an option because they are getting outdone internationally.''
Joyce's predecessor, Geoff Dixon, was well known for regularly accentuating the negatives. But Qantas's management rejects suggestions it is resorting to hyperbole to push the unions into a backdown - the international business is losing bucketloads of cash, it insists.
Joyce emphasised it again this week: "The international losses are just something we can't sustain. We know we can't give into the outrageous demands of some of these rogue unions.''
Few doubt Qantas's premium operations are at a disadvantage to foreign airlines which operate on lower cost bases. Analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland estimate the cost base of Qantas mainline - the planes with the kangaroo on their tails - is about 50 per cent higher than Virgin's.
But the challenge has always been: how do you lower costs without harming the product?
That is made harder with a showdown just around the corner. Ballots of the long-haul pilots and engineers to vote on taking protected strike action will be completed early next month. They are expected to give their support, which will be the first industrial action by Qantas pilots in 45 years.
The pilots are unlikely to walk off the job, instead resorting to a work-to-rule campaign that includes flying slowly, stopwork meetings and refusing to do overtime. What appears relatively minor, such as not allowing for as much time as usual to travel to airports in preparation for flights or demanding a plane be checked for minor technical issues, can throw an airline's network into chaos.
Strange as it may seem, a work-to-rule can be more costly than a pilots' walkout because Qantas still has to pay their wages. And there is the flow-on effect: grumpy employees making clear to passengers their dissatisfaction, or travellers considering other airlines because of looming industrial action.
In 2008, the engineers' industrial action disrupted the plans of thousands of passengers for 10 weeks.
The dispute seriously dented on-time performance. The airline took months to recover after the dispute because of a large backlog of engineering work. Qantas estimated the dispute cost it $130 million.
Flying into trouble
Flying into trouble with everything and everyone.
"Analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland
Why the heck would you believe a word they said? That's as bad as believing Macquarie Bank!
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Dear Alan,
It is NOT the fault of the workers. Pathetic! Take some responsibility for your actions. Gutless!
Stand up to the Chairman and let him know that this is not a mine site. This is a customer service industry and you need your employees working with you. Then again, via engagement surveys I think you have worked out that you lost most of them already.
It is time to go, Leigh and Alan (YOU are the weakest link!!!)
It is NOT the fault of the workers. Pathetic! Take some responsibility for your actions. Gutless!
Stand up to the Chairman and let him know that this is not a mine site. This is a customer service industry and you need your employees working with you. Then again, via engagement surveys I think you have worked out that you lost most of them already.
It is time to go, Leigh and Alan (YOU are the weakest link!!!)
Last edited by What The; 11th Jun 2011 at 01:19.
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''This is really heading to '89 territory here,'' says an airline executive, referring to the pilots' strike of that year. ''
The more I read and hear, the more I think they are hoping for strikes because they make the heats-and-minds war so much easier.
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It is NOT the fault of the workers.
And yes, the management, and everybody else working for Qantas should take one if the pilots do.
There are times when the workers MUST take a pay cut in order for their company to survive. In IR history, this has been, sadly, not an infrequent occurrence.
So if less than 4% of an aircraft's operating costs (pilot wages) cannot be reduced there is no hope for future profitability eh fgd??
Pilot salaries cost the airline something like a dollar per ticket. You could halve pilot salaries and it would make little bottom-line difference ...
I have been able to put my hand on some research into these figures. The source of the information used in the research is the Qantas Annual report from 2002-2003.
From this research:
Of the airline's total costs, "staff" made up 28% and "aircraft operating" made up 21%.
The staff component wasn't broken down any further but I would conservatively estimate the pilot salaries to be 25% of the total salaries cost. This would make the pilot salaries 33% of the aircraft's operating costs - way more than the 4% figure bandied about in these forums!
As for the statement that "pilot salaries cost the airline something like a dollar per ticket":
Applying this assumption to the above 2002/03 figures (and assuming an average ticket price of $250), we calculate that Qantas would have made 192 billion dollars of ticket revenue that year! Their total costs were 10.8 billion dollars (AUD), so this would suggest a profitability of 1,645%.
Profitability in excess of a thousand percent? Does that sound plausible?
The research also had this to say:
"Qantas' staff costs in the 2002-2003 year were 28% of its total expenses - the highest in the South-East Asian region.
By contrast, airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific are purely international, although they do have some short-haul international routes. In both cases, their labor costs are approx 21% of total costs - much lower than that for Qantas. A factor in the significantly lower staff costs for these airlines is the nature of long-haul operations which tend to be less labor intensive. In addition, both asian based airlines enjoy better productivity from their staff and employ leaner work practices."
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It is when the workers refuse to take a pay cut!
Gee, are these the same workers whose union approached Qantas and asked what figure we needed to achieve to make us competitive? And the reply was... (cue sounds of crickets chirping...)
Try again FGD...
Oh and I particularly liked this one...
I would conservatively estimate the pilot salaries to be 25% of the total salaries cost.
Wow, did you pull that one from your...
Gee, are these the same workers whose union approached Qantas and asked what figure we needed to achieve to make us competitive? And the reply was... (cue sounds of crickets chirping...)
Try again FGD...
Oh and I particularly liked this one...
I would conservatively estimate the pilot salaries to be 25% of the total salaries cost.
Wow, did you pull that one from your...
